Artificial
by Aarnael
Summary: What is it with Issei Hyoudou?
1. Chapter 1

The exorcist faced the assembled devils blankly, the devils numbered in the dozens but he didn't care about that, nor did he care that he was alone in the face of the hordes of hell at this point he welcomed death. His entire existence was a joke, he was a dog of the church sicced upon its enemies with one meaning to its existence. Kill. Killing was his purpose, he breathed in the fetid stench of death and feasted on the rotting flesh of his enemies. All he had was the target, standing at the forefront of the army wearing a twisted smirk as he eyes the simpering nun behind him. So small and fragile, the exorcist had vowed to keep her safe, and he would die in the pursuit of that goal. By the end of this day he would either be immortal, his deeds carved in stone as an example to future generation, or his blood shall water the stones of this forsaken cathedral to an absent god.

"One last chance exorcist, hand over the girl and I might be persuaded to let you live." The noble devil sneered one last time.

His answer was a hail of bullets, fired into the heart of the swarm. And so the massacre began.

The exorcist dashed at the assemblage, the barrels of his pistols smoking. When he plowed into the front lines he fired a couple shots, the spraying of blood was all he needed to know he had hit his targets. Holstering a pistol he drew out a long and thin road from inside his coat, upon activation a thin blade of light arose from the handle. Using his sword he brought down several more devils, severing arms and heads as he made his way into the ranks to chase after the retreating form of Astoroth. His pursuit was halted momentarily as he crossed blades with a devil knight but a clip to the gut fell the devil soon enough as the warrior of god stepped over the corpse to continue the chase. He had left the nun inside the threshold of the church knowing that her status as a saint would activate the defenses. They wouldn't last for long being as their was only one their so the exorcist had to distract the devils so she could complete the ritual to call the angels. Blasting his way through the heart of the devils he paused for a moment to draw a glowing sphere of glass from his coat. With a grunt he smashed the orb on the ground and covered his eyes just before light flooded the area. The devils around his dispersed in a rain of ashes as the holy light destroyed their very being and the ones farther howled in pain as the light seared their flesh. The exorcist's coat provided some protection but the intense heat cooked his insides, he bite down the pain and carried on. His movements had slowed a bit from the intensity of the pain and he felt the bite of steel hitting his opened chest just enough to rend apart the flesh in a shallow cut that bleed like crazy. He turned to the lucky devil and put one between his eyes before dashing back down the street, hoping to draw off the devils. His plan worked a little to well, the devils didn't even glance back as they took to the sky howling for the blood of the pitiful exorcist who had killed their comrades.

Their rage was counterproductive however as their numbers were steadily reduced as the exorcist produced a long rifle and snapped the pieces together on the fly before they began to drop from the sky, courtesy of said exorcist. A devil wielding a spear dived towards the exorcist, looking to impale the foul mortal, but to his surprise the exorcist caught the spear just under the blade with his arm then slammed the elbow of his other hand down on the haft which snapped the spear in two before he twisted around and buried the blade hilt deep into the devils spine then ran off, leaving the gasping devil to die as he picked up his rifle from where it fell.

With the enemy effectively halved by the _Birth of heaven_ grenade and further reducing their numbers during their charge through the city of Vienna, Italy the exorcist doubled back to the church to find The nun on her knees, beseeching the angels for assistance along with the other members of the congregation. If the exorcist wasn't so found of the girl he would've laughed, but he couldn't find it in himself to do so. The nun believed whole heartedly in the love of her god, something the exorcist himself could no longer find in himself, and who was he to take that away from her?

Stepping towards the entrance he positioned himself behind a fallen pillar near the doorway, which had been ripped of by the devils during their initial conflict. A frightened nun, one that belonged here at this particular church, tossed a steel case towards the exorcist upon his request. He opened it to find several clips of ammunition along with a disassembled auto rifle, which he ignored. The auto rifle was specialized to handle large groups of enemies sure, like werewolves or undead, but lacked the necessary firepower in order to pierce through a vampires skin or the barriers that a devil was sure to have. His rifle on the other hand possessed the firepower but lacked the speed necessary to handle large groups at once, which had lead to unprepared and uncreative alike to the promise land. A few devils flew over the roofs of the building closest to the square, but they spiraled out of the sky to the rifles rebuttal.

Seeing that the sky wasn't an option the remaining devils descended to the ground and poured into the courtyard, the exorcist's rifle dogging them all the way. They fired bolts of magic which slammed into the building to shower the exorcist in debris. As he ducked down to avoid the missiles the exorcist pulled out a peculiar device from his pocket, pressing the button located at the top the courtyard exploded into fire and death.

When the smoke cleared to reveal the charred remains of their forces the remaining survivors glared hatred into the eyes of the exorcist, they numbered less then four but they radiated power, that of a high class devil. Throwing his empty rifle away and shucking off his coat the exorcist revealed to the world his muscled body, honed from years of combat for the church. His pistols where clipped into a pair of holsters located under his arms supported by a harness around his shoulders and back over his black shirt, which was drenched in blood from the cut running up his chest, that was tucked into a pair of cargo pants. hanging from his belt was the hilts of a pair of light swords and several daggers on his person. He was lightly equipped compared to the armored devils he stared down, plate mail glinting in the moonlight. Grabbing the swords and flicking them on he lept over the rubble. The devil in the middle fired off bolts of magic but they were dispelled by the swinging of the exorcist's blade. The tallest one on the left summoned a jagged blade as his lumbering compatriot materialized a battle ax, the smallest one in the middle chose to face the exorcist as he was, with his hands glowing with power. the exorcist and the devils met head on, deflecting the sword to the side the exorcist countered with a thrust that was evaded. Flipping over the Ax-man's swing the exorcist planted his boot into the swordsman's chest to send him stumbling backwards.

landing on his feet the exorcist rolled to evade the Magician, he came out of the roll bringing his blades up in to block the Axeman's overhead swing, the force of the blow cracked the ground and shattered one of the blades. the exorcist rolled out the way, drawing his pistol he fired at the Axeman who deflected the bullets with a shield of his magic. Before the exorcist could attack once more, the swordsman reentered the fray by a horizontal slash to the exorcist's head, the exorcist brought his blade up to halt the blade and was thrown back by the force of the swing to slam into the chapel's fountain.

Standing from the fountain the exorcist was wet and bleeding, his arm had dislocated and he had lost a pistol. With his good arm the exorcist dropped his sword and reset the limb.

"Alright you bastards, I'm tired of your shit." He said, and the swordsman sprinted towards the fountain, the earth shattering under the force of his launch. the exorcist smiled and just as the devils blade was poised to invade his gut, he whipped out his remaining gun and blew the devils head off.

"Azmodon!" Shouted the Axeman, his hand outstretched in horror.

Sidestepping as the body slumped to the ground the exorcist picked up his sword and looked the devil strait in the eye."Oops." In a blind rage the Axeman, far larger than the other two, charged the exorcist who rushed forward as well, digging in his pocket.

"Die!" The devil swung his huge weapon in a deadly arch, looking to cleave the mortal in half. the exorcist rolled past the blow and stuck something in the gap between the devils helmet and armor. A second later the devil exploded in a shower of blood and light leaving only the mage and the exorcist.

"Where's Diodora." The exorcist circled his opponent who smirked at the exorcist.

"Behind you." The mage pointed towards the cathedral, it was the exorcist's turn to smirk.

"You seriously think I'm gonna fall for tha-" A sudden scream rang through the night, causing the exorcist to turn towards the cathedral to see Astoroth Heir forming a massive magic circle in the air. The exorcist had violated the first rule of combat, _Never take your eyes off your opponent._ A black appendage pierced his chest and the exorcist was flung to the ground.

"Foolish boy, never turn your back on a devil." The mage stomped over and kicked the exorcist in the gut, but found himself trapped in a death hold.

"Foolish devil, never kick a man when he's down." The exorcist smirked, blood caking his teeth, that held the pin of a grenade." 'Cus when he gets up, your fucked." The devil exploded in a manner reminiscent of the Axeman, the force sent the exorcist sprawling. His body was burned with the fires of heaven and bleeding to death from the hole in his back but the exorcist still managed to stand on his feat and drag himself up the stairs to the church. The Astoroth didn't even notice his presence until the exorcist shoved a gun in his face and pulled the trigger, but it was to late. The devil had weakened the buildings supports and it was coming down. the exorcist had two choices. He could let the Innocence in his life be snuffed out but he would live, the alternative however...the exorcist didn't even hesitate to rush into the cathedral and forced the congregation out, managing to throw a paralyzed The nun through the chapel doors just before the building came down crushing the exorcist beneath millions of tons of marble and metal.

*]~[*

Issei stepped out into the cold and dreary day, the slow moving tide of students filtered out behind him as they uneasily shifted around him as he made his way to the side of the progression. Cutting through the mass of bodies was easier than you would think, having blue hair and an unsavory reputation allows one space among the many teens that went to school here. Most treated him with a cold indifference, while a few others glanced worriedly in his direction. Issei didn't mind though, he was in the middle of his second year at the academy and had grown used to the sparsity of humanity that casually floated his way from time to time. He was an oddity, most people said he had a bad attitude or an aura that followed him around. He didn't understand a lick of it.

Stepping out onto the concrete path outside the perimeter wall of the campus, Issei was struggling to find a good song to walk home to when a soft pounding met his ear through the small barrier the earbuds provided. Looking up he saw a small girl wearing the girls uniform of the academy, a white blouse and dark skirt with a tailed red colored corset that really didn't do her any favors.

With a blank face she beat the side of a vending machine, her tiny fist surprisingly vocal against the metal. Based on prior experience with the coin trap, Issei guessed that the machine had 'stolen' her money. Now as it was said, Issei had a reputation. This reputation was birthed after a few scuffles with some local bullies that decided he'd be a good target because of his hair and quiet nature, he managed pretty well in the five on one the teasing had devolved into but he didn't manage some feat of extraordinary supremacy by beating all five of them half to death with a cocky grin and a skirt soaking ease. That only happened under certain conditions: a highly skilled martial artist that had trained for years in whatever school going against several arrogant assholes that knew jack squat, a grown man being attacked by toddlers, a lethally trained militant, or if you're the protagonist of a poorly veiled self insert fanfiction. Since he was currently none of those things, the best Issei could do was hold his own until somebody decided to intervene. Though he was proud to see a couple sporting black eyes or a swollen face the next day, the pain in his ribs kept him from mounting his high horse. That incident had perked some interest in a few people, but it wasn't until his first Phys Ed class rolled around that people really got started.

Anyway, Issei had developed a reputation as a delinquent. A rough and tumble, no nonsense leather clad bad-boy with leathery knuckles and a bad attitude, which in America would've made him popular but in pleasant traditional japan it only made him popular with the police. But really, as cliché as it sounds, he was just a sweethearted bookworm with a bit of a sweet tooth and a fondness for old leather. One could also argue that he was a bit of a masochist because he kept putting himself into situations that blew up in his face, that or he was just insane. So either way it was a simple thing for him to walk up to the girl and offer her his spare pack of candies.

"Hey, uh, Koneko!" He called out to the girl, sliding off his bag as he walked over, causing her to turn around and blankly watch him. He remembered her name, vaguely, from the few times he had met her. Hazel eyes were alert as he unzipped a couple pockets in his search for something before he pulled out an unopened plastic packet of little green and white disks. "Here you can have this, that damn things a coin trap anyway so I wouldn't worry to much."

Koneko simply stared at him, the white of her hair glinted from the faint light that managed to escape the cloud cover and it went directly into his eyes making it a little hard to see the wariness of her gaze. She seemed a little on edge to be honest, though he supposed he would be too when the resident thug started handing out bags.

"Listen, there isn't any strings attached. The bag ain't even been opened, see." He wiggled the green swooshed bag between them. "I've got plenty more at the house so here." He pushed the bag more insistently towards the girl leaving about two feet of distance between her and the bag.

It took a moment but, looking a little hesitant, Koneko slowly reached out. Carefully watching every twitch of his face and body for any, any sign that this was a trick, before snatching the bag away from him and darting down the street without a word.

"You're welcome! I guess." He called after her, but she paid him no mind as she turned a corner and disappeared from view. Issei visibly slumped before he zipped his bag with a sigh. "Oh well, there went that."

lifting his bag off the ground Issei shrugged the encounter off before popping a mint in his mouth and walking back to the other side of the street leave down the opposite direction of town. As he continued on his way he looked about the street as he passed by a few buildings, there where a few homes that probably belonged to the families of a few of the students that went to the Academy, mostly girls since the place was once female only, having let boys join a year or two back, a random convenience store you see everywhere and a few small businesses that where winding down for the day.

"Issei!" A voice called as he walked past the bakery, the smells already filling his head with visions of ooey gooey deliciousness. The voice was soft, and sweet much like the cinnamon rolls she often smelled like. With a smile coming to his face, as easily as all the others he sent her way, Issei turned towards the noise.

"Yuuma!" Issei said happily as he laid eyes on the girl. She hung out the glass door of her family's bakery with a box in one hand as she waved him down with the other. Walking up to her, Issei was greeted with a one armed hug that left him a bit flustered by the way her chest pressed against him but he brushed it off.

"Hey Issei how was your day?!" She said cheerfully, holding a soft pink box in her hands. She softly swayed side to side wearing a cute apron with the box placed before her lap held in both hands, the innocent posture called attention to her breast and Issei did his best not to look. Though he failed, miserably, he only looked once or twice. Maybe three…

"Fine, fine, How about yours?" He said, noting how cute the flour speckled about her dark black hair made her already cute facade adorable.

"It was wonderful Issei! I had this super hard math test today though, but I totally aced it." She brought up a fist and pumped it in victory with a wink, closing one of her violet eyes for just a brief moment while she held the pose that caused her softer parts to jiggle.

"Really! That's awesome Yuuma I knew you could do it." He said, reaching out for a high five. She slapped her smaller hand against his rougher and larger palm.

"Thank you, but really it's all thanks to you. Helping me study all those nights after work was a really great help Issei, you're really smart so its no wonder I passed." She said with a bit of a blush, the wind pushing her black feathered earrings into a twirl that drew attention to her neck, a pale and graceful thing that had this tiny little mole that just barely peeked out from behind her trapezes, it was a single flaw in her skin but one that just sent his motor running every time he glanced at her neck.

Or maybe he just had a weird fetish?

"Eh, It's not so much as smart it's just…" God she smelled good, it was like a mixture of _cinn_ _a_ _mon_ and sugar had just came out of the oven. It was warm and sweet, _warm and sweet...just like Yuuma._

Issei began to blush, a fact that did not escape Yuuma as he soon found her to be extremely close as she pressed her hand against his face.

"Issei, you're burning up. Are you ok?" She said as her hand shifted from his forehead to his cheek a few times during this Issei could see down her shirt, strait through her apron to her simple white cotton brassiere and cleavage. Issei grew hotter at the sight, practically glowing at this point he averted his eyes and began digging in his bag.

"I-im fine." He stuttered out as he frantically pulled a book from his backpack and handed it to Yuuma after taking a step back and calmed himself. "Here's that book I borrowed."

His only friend looked unconvinced as she closed her hand around the book before saying. "Are you sure you're okay? You can stay inside the shop for a while and I'll walk you home, I'm sure mom won't mind. Dad mite, but he'll get over it." She added with a giggle.

"Seriously I'm fine, and thanks but I gotta get to work." He said waving off her concerns and began to turn away down the street, not noticing how disappointed Yuuma looked as she mumbled to the side before she popped up like a lightning strike.

"Oh hey Issei!" She called before he got to far down the street. Running up to him she tossed the box from she had been holding into his hands, the still warm contents heating his hands through the cardboard. "I made these for you!" She said with a prideful smile and a bit of color to her cheeks.

"Whoa cool, thanks Yuuma you, are awesome." He said after peeking under the lid to see eight oozing cinnamon buns covered in powdered sugar. "Anyway I gotta go, the company's working on this house on sixth street and could really use an extra set of hands. Bye!" He said walking off.

"Bye Issei!" She called after him before entering the bakery with a smile.

"Now Yuuma." Said a man in a pale gray overcoat as he sat at a table in the dark. "What have I said about perusing with strange young men late in the evening."

"Can it Dohnaseek, you're only pretending to be my father." Yuuma sneered as she walked past the older man who gave a chuckle in response before lifting his hat from the table to his heart with a sigh of nostalgia.

"Ah, how they grow up so fast. It seems like it was only yesterday when she was bouncing on my knee saying. 'Daddy, daddy, daddy go faster!'. Oh wait..." the look of nostalgia was replaced by a leering grin. "That was yesterday."

"Be quiet!" Yuuma hissed, her eyes flicking towards the door. "Issei could here you, you worthless sack of shit!"

"Quite worried about his opinion now are we? How strange of you." The man noted with a mocking tilt of the head.

"Shut it Dohnaseek, I've been working on this kid for half a year now and I don't wanna throw all that away over your fucking mouth! What the hell was I thinking when I called you? You don't do anything!" Yuuma said in exasperation as she walked past towards the stairs leading up to the private rooms.

"Oh please, we all know that if it wasn't for Dohnaseek you would've jumped the boys bones by now and ruined the entire operation. It was truly your best tactical move." Said her 'mother' Kalawarner as she stepped out from behind the counter, causing Yuuma to stop. "Though perhaps you should've been the mother and let Mittelt do the seducing, wouldn't you agree?"

"Oh no, there was no way in hell I was gonna let that brat do _my_ job! Besides Issei prefers breast like mine over tiny little bumps like hers." Yuuma said proudly while grabbing her chest.

"Even so, I wish you would hurry things along already I getting quite tired of this charade." Said Kalawarner, who was dressed in a plain dress with an apron tied around her waist. "It has become rather old."

"Seduction like this takes time, you've felt the aura coming off of him, what if he has a Longinus? Power like that would please Lord Azazel, and promote the cause of course, I'm going for my A-game on this one." Yuuma argued, still holding the book from Issei in one hand.

"And what's that, blue-balling him to death? Cus I'm all for cuckolding." Dohnaseek said rather crudely causing an exasperated sigh from Kalawarner.

"Unfortunatly for you, no." Yuuma smirked. "Now come on I only got a few more hours and _Daddy, I wanna play!_ " She finished, shifting into her childish persona once again as she lead Dohnaseek up the stairs and leaving Kalawarner sneering in disgust. _Slut._

*][*

Carpentry isn't as easy as one would think. It requires both brains and brawn to get the job done along with a steady hand and a cool head. Carefully planning each and every tiny detail down to the length of the nail all the way to the angle of the floor must be considered with everything. Jesus was a carpenter after all, so they all must live up to his perfection.

"Son of a goddamn bitch, come grab this fuckin' board Issei!"

It was a lesson his coworker Takeshi didn't seem to have learned. Slipping his hammer back into his tool belt, Issei quickly descended his ladder and moved to help the man. Though Issei was still in his teens he had been with the crew longer than Takeshi and so he was considered the older mans senior, a fact that Takeshi didn't like at all. Still, Issei helped the man tear down the frame for what felt like the eighth time that day and bore through the insults and threats hurled his way and built the A-frame himself before nailing a sideways board across the top that stretched to another A-frame and finally, after three hours of waiting, finished their second saw horse.

Issei's job consisted of morning prep and evening clean up on sight for a local construction company called Hirogura Home Renovations. He'd show up on location and prepare the sight for the rest of the crew to come in and work. Running electrical cords, setting up saw-horses, moving furniture and electronics, marking water-mains and such before heading on to school while in the afternoon he helped the crew with whatever needed to be done before heading home. He usually made about fifty to eighty bucks a day depending on the time available, it wasn't much to live on but he managed.

Climbing back up the ladder Issei was about to hop up onto the roof when he heard a vehicle pull up. Looking back he saw his boss, a tall man with a beard, step out of a white colored van with the company logo stenciled on the side.

"Ah Teshi, your here early for once." He said, glancing in surprise at the new-hire as a few more hands pilled out from the van.

"Well you know what they say Mr. Tekao, the early bird gets the worm. I woulda had the roof finished by now if it weren't for Issei screwing up the horses for the hundredth time." Takeshi said. Issei had to try really hard not to chuck his hammer at the sleazy bastard.

"Well then, it was very kind of you to help him Teshi considering you set the last ones on fire." Tekao noted sharply.

"Hey that wasn't my fault, Issei tossed those paint cans all over the place so I tripped. How is that idiot's screw up my fault." Takeshi argued, and Mr. Takao didn't seem all that pleased as he looked up at the roof to find Issei prying up shingles.

"You hear that Mr. Hyoudou! Teshi here says you made him set the horses on fire!" He called up. "What do you say?!"

"Your brother-in-law's a jackass!" Issei responded, his voice coming from the far side of the roof atop the three story house. Slightly faded from the distance and objects in between, but they heard him clearly. His response had the crew laugh as they moved to their separate spots which in turn caused Takeshi to turn red and storm off.

It was a few hours later that Issei bid the rest of the crew goodbye and left to go to his home nearly half a town away.

*]~[*

Koneko stepped through the portal and found herself in a lavish, step down room with a desk at one end and a pair of long couches situated on both sides of the recessed floor with a table in between. In this room were three people, a blond haired young man with a perpetual smile known as Yuuto Kiba who sat alone on a couch. And a pair of older girls with highly sexualized figures, the one sitting behind the desk had long red hair that fell wildly down her back while the other girl beside her had jet black hair held up in an impossibly long ponytail by a single orange bow. Both where the most popular girls in school, Rias Gremory and Akeno Himajima respectivly. Stepping down into the recessed living room, Koneko seated herself on the couch opposite of Kiba.

"So he finally found his way home, I was beginning to worry about you Koneko." Said the red haired girl who lent forward and placed her elbows on the desk in front of her. "Did you find out anything?"

The little girl nodded. "Crows."

"Ah, I figured as much. One does not give off such an aura and not attract attention after all, though it is a wonder why they've been so quiet for so long. I thought that they would've made a move on him by now." The redheaded foreigner said placing her head on the bridge of her fingers.

"Perhaps they are waiting for something Rias." Said the Japanese girl at her side, her almond shaped eyes slinking over to Rias.

"Perhaps. But for what is the question? And why is Issei-san so interesting to them? You followed him home Koneko, did you see anything?" Rias asked the little girl, who shook her head in the negative as she munched on the mints in her lap.

"If I may, Ms. President shouldn't we be focusing our energies elsewhere? We do not have much time to worry about him after all." Said Kiba.

"Perhaps you are right Kiba, however he may be dangerous and I cannot in good conscience leave a potential threat unattended." Rias said seriously, her eyes showing her determination to her duty.

"Besides, if even the Grigori are keeping an eye on him would it not be best to snatch him away from them as soon as possible? He could be the answer to our problems." Added Akeno, who had a soft smile but a scheming glint in her eye.

"I must object, whatever Hyoudou-san is it cannot be good news. We have all been in his presence, we have felt the energies coming off of him and if I personally believe that nothing good can come of him being allowed into the peerage." He argued. "The air around him is thick with a taint, being around him sets my teeth on edge. Whatever he is, it is not good."

"However, it may just be that he has a sacred gear that hasn't fully manifested. I remember once upon a time when swords would just randomly pop out of the ground Kiba." Rias replied, a fond memory playing out in her head that had a smile grace her lips.

"That is a possibility." Kiba sighed, his shoulders slumping as a hand reached up to pinch his nose. "My apologies Ms. President, the decision is you but please be careful."

As Kiba relaxed back into the couch, Akeno lent over to whisper in Rias' ear. "Intimidation aside, don't you find the oppressiveness simply thrilling. Perhaps we should invite Issei over for a more _private_ screening."

"Not everyone is as crazy as you Akeno, Issei's aura doesn't effect me in the slightest." Rias said calmly and assuredly, however Akeno didn't look convinced but dropped it anyway as she left the room to prepare tea.

Across town Issei sat down on his couch in front of his TV with a box of cinnamon buns in one hand and gallon in the other. He smelled of sweat, grease, and sawdust and gave no fucks about as he parked right in the middle of the couch, kicked off his hot ass shoes and plopped his tiered feet right on the coffee table with the box of pastries on the cushion next to him and the milk in his lap.

This was his favorite part of the day, the unwind after work. Usually he zoned out to the sound of the TV before migrating to his bed upstairs but today he had desserts to eat. _God bless Yuuma._ She was such a sweetheart. The buns where about as big as a fist, each thoughtfully wrapped in waxed paper about half way so he cold hold on to them. Flipping open the lid he snatched one out of the box and shoved it into his mouth, he'd have a sugar rush from hell but it was worth it as he was going to eat the whole damn box. Having warmed them up in the micro wave, the thick syrup dripped down his chin and onto his sweat stained shirt but he didn't care it was dirty anyway.

At the moment he looked like a complete pig, covered in syrup with powdered sugar falling to his lap. But he was done for the day, all that was left for him was a bath and nobody visited him so his response to the mess was to place his thumb under the lip of the milk jug and flick off the lid which shot off to somewhere in the house. Seeing the air that it got, the teen gave a small chuckle before he swallowed a few gulps of milk to wash down the ooey gooey deliciousness that was his best friends cinnamon rolls.

He damn near choked when hands came down over his eyes.

"Who am I Issei?!" Said a voice that was full of cheer and cuteness.

"Yuuma?! What the hell are you doing here?" Issei said as he shot to his feet, milk dribbling down his chin. The girl was standing behind his couch with a grin wearing a dark fuzzy gray coat and scarf and Issei was now embarrassed of his dirty appearance and slobbish tendencies.

"I came here to check on you, look at you you must have a fever your burning red." Her nose crinkled in a way that warmed his heart and sunk it all at once. "You smell funny."

"Never mind that Yuuma, its practically midnight what are you thinking coming all this way at night?" He couldn't believe how she could be at times, it was dangerous for a cute girl like her to be out this late. "Plus you have school tomorrow!"

"Oh hush Issei, I know what I'm doing now go upstairs and get cleaned up while I get dinner ready." She demanded, rushing the poor confused boy up the stairs before he could protest.

Once she was alone, Yuuma looked around a the living room and saw the opened box of cinnamon buns she had spent all day trying to perfect and remembered how greedily Issei had been devouring them. She warmed at the that, not the loin burning warmth of lust but the kind of warmth that bloomed from the heart. With a smile she lifted her bag of groceries from the floor and made her way towards the kitchen, bare feet padding the whole way. About halfway across the room she felt something round underfoot and, lifting her foot, discovered a small blue cap around the size of a large coin.

"Must've been in quite the rush to get at those buns." She mused before bending over and picking the cap off the floor and making a detour over to the living room table to place the cap back onto the milk with a smile. "Silly boy." she whispered softly before leaving for the kitchen once again.


	2. Chapter 2

Issei awoke the next morning to find himself on the couch of all places, with hardly any idea how he got there he looked blearily around for some tip or clue as to why he was face down on his cold and lumpy couch when their was a perfectly fine bed not to far from him up the stairs. It wasn't normal for him to fall asleep on the couch so it was a bit alarming for him to be so. It was in that moment of strange consciousness between sleep and wakefulness that Issei found himself, able to look around and perceive his surroundings but not truly understand nor comprehend his situation.

After a wild few moments of him dumbly looking around, the haze fogging his mind cleared enough to let the sound of soft humming and the smell of bacon in through its density. He let his mind process this for a second before he reached out and grabbed the back of the couch and pulled himself up so that he could look over into the kitchen.

As his head popped over the couch Issei was still shucking off the last dredges of sleep, but as his eyes peeked over the burgundy fabric of his couch Issei lost all pretense of sleep as he was greeted by the sight of bright pink panties dancing around the sparse space of his kitchen causing him to slip and crash into the floor.

"Yuuma what the hell?!" He said as he shot up from the ground, embarrassment written all over his face. The poor girl stopped like a deer in the headlights with a fresh pan of waffles hovering in the air just over the table, her hair was wild and disheveled and she was only wearing a loose sweater that fell halfway down her shoulder to reveal the top half of her bubblegum bra and the milky flesh within. To him she looked utterly adorable as she stared at him in innocent bewilderment at his shouting, the sight of her long and loose dark hair tumbling down over her far shoulder leaving her smooth neck open and looking absolutely delectable awoke places he wished would go go back to sleep.

"Issei you scared me! Did I do something wrong?" She asked innocently, as if it was perfectly normal that she was practically naked in his house cooking breakfast. Then again...was it really that bad for her to be practically naked in his house cooking breakfast? It wasn't like she was _actually naked_ it was just...bad for his _health._

"What no...just...ah..gah what are you doing in your underwear?!" He struggled to find the words but after a minute he managed that frantic question. Yuuma looked down at her legs and, as easy as pie and as if it was normal for her to be prancing around with her legs on display with her pink covered butt hanging out the back and her privates peeking out from under a sweater he was beginning to suspect was his gray hoodie, thank god he was behind the couch!, calmly looked back up and said.

"It's hot." like it was the most obvious thing in the world, come to think of it...it was a bit warm in there. Maybe he should open a window, or take a cold shower.

"That's why god created shorts!" He said, tossing his hands into the air and jerking them in her directing about an inch or two in a frustrated manner.

"But Issei!" She whined, dropping the pan onto the table. "I don't have any shorts, all I brought with me was what I wore last night and it's to hot for that."

"Why didn't you bring any clothes? we have school in less than an hour!" Issei said after looking at the clock on the wall above the basement door that was opposite the stairs leading up next to the mantle. Yuuma took a moment to process that before simply grabbing the pan of waffles and quickly shoveling them onto a pair of plates.

"Then you need to hurry up and eat." She said seriously as she dipped into the fridge for the tub of strawberries and cream she had brought with her last night, he was wondering what those were for.

"Screw breakfast you need to get home and get dressed." He said, getting ready to sprint up the stairs for her clothes. He could be ready in five minutes, but her knew from past experience how long it took girls to get dressed. Yuuma herself being the main culprit of his hands on education.

"I'm not going." Yuuma said before stubbornly dropping into a chair at the table causing Issei to pause on the first step.

"Why not?!" Issei said as he whirled around, his voice becoming rough and rising a couple octaves in frustration.

"Because I'm sick." Yuuma said innocently before unconvincingly coughing into her hand. "See." Issei looked at her blankly.

"Cute." he deadpanned. "You know you really need to take school more seriously Yuuma or else you're gonna be stuck with me doing some last minute cramming."

"Such a shame." She sighed as she drummed her fingers on the table. "Now come and eat your breakfast mister."

With a defeated sigh, Issei gave in and sat at the table right where she had set him up. Right next to her. Being next to Yuuma wasn't the problem, being next to a half naked Yuuma whose left breast was constantly shifting around do to her happily cutting into her waffle whilst humming and shifting from hip to hip with the sudden pink flashes of color from between her thighs catching his eye every few seconds because Yuuma decided to sit away from the table, was. Yuuma was a delight to be around, but her innate innocence to her own body and its effects on men, while adorable, tended to drive Issei up the wall. He had known her for months and he felt like they were good friends, but it was his desire for more that grated at him most.

He...didn't have friends. Growing up was just a blur and he'd been alone ever since he'd moved to Kuoh so he greatly cherished the relationship he had between himself and Yuuma, but waking up to the sound of her cooking and the sight of her happily flitting about his kitchen in her undies as if it were natural had him wondering if they could ever be more.

He glanced over at her as she lifted a forkful of waffle covered in strawberries and cream, a piece of bacon held just waiting to be eaten. Seeing her there, next to him with such happiness and ease, he could just imagine having a life with her. A life where she belonged there, next to him. Where he wasn't so alone in this empty house and her cheer would stay forever. He wanted that, he wanted her. She looked up at him and smiled, a bright toothy grin that he swore had light coming off it as she looked at him. The darkness of her hair complimented her smile, soaking in her light so that he may enjoy it without going blind as her eyes glittered in that self same light.

"You look so serious right now, is there something on my face?" She said, a bit of a laugh in her tone as she lifted her knife from the table to examine her teeth.

"No." Issei assured her. "It's fine...just perfect." _To perfect for me._

"Then why are you staring?" Yuuma said as she set down the knife, she was leaned back in the chair with her legs drawn up onto it as one lay against the seat. It was a very provocative pose, one that he was sure most would kill to see from someone a beautiful as Yuuma but Issei paid it no mind as he had begun the slow treacherous descent into his own minefield of self doubt and loathing.

"You left the stove on." He replied, calmly pointing behind her with his thumb before she whipped around in her seat, her hair taking wing in the whirl and flew through the air like a black tide before it settled down the length of her back, twisted as it was as she glanced at the stove.

"Aaah!" She shot out of her seat with a yelp and rushed to the stove, swiftly turning it off before it caught fire. Issei gave a small smile at how adorable Yuuma could be, in just five minutes she brought more life to this house than he could in the year and a half he had lived there. The rooms seemed brighter, the colors more pronounced and the house itself seamed warmer. But he knew, he knew that as soon as she walked out that door everything would fade and die. The clean white walls would turn a dead gray and the light streaming in from the window would no longer suffice to warm the cold, dead halls of his lonely home. One day she would forget about him, she would fall in love with someone that deserved her and she would leave him behind as was her right. So he would cherish what little time they had together before it was gone, and in the interest of preserving what little they had left he would swallow these thoughts, these dreams of a future that would never be.

"Wow, I am so glad you caught that Issei. That could've been bad." Yuuma said as she sat back down, a fresh glass of orange juice in her hands.

"So am I." Issei agreed, reaching forward for his own drink. Grasping the half empty glass of apple juice Issei could feel the tiny tremors beginning to take his hands. It was soft, barely noticeable, but the feeling in his hands where already fading and his grip was weakening. Seeing this Issei began to stand.

"Excuse me." He said as he stood from the table, taking his glass with him as he headed toward the stairs. His steps light and his gait calm as he climbed the steps up to the second floor. To his left was the master bedroom down the hall and a bit closer than that was the spare while to his right was the guestroom and next to that was the bathroom. It was a big house for only one person, with a basement and an attic to boot it was down right huge to live in by yourself.

After entering into the bathroom, Issei shut the door and twisted the lock. Moving to the sink he placed his glass atop the counter and calmly reached up his trembling hand to open the mirror. Inside was three small selves recessed into the wall that held a number of objects such as toothpaste, painkillers, decongestants and the like. But on the lowest self was a line of clear orange bottles which Issei reached for and gradually took down one by one before opening each and taking a set amount from them. before he got half way he soon had six different pills in his hand which he brought to his mouth and dumped them inside.

Ignoring the bitter taste of the medicine on his tongue Issei reached over and grabbed his glass of apple juice, chuckling at the random thought of it looking like urine, and brought it to his lips to rinse down the medication in one gulp. Having set down the glass Issei continued the process with the rest of the bottles as his hands began to shake, the tremors becoming violent enough that as he drank from his glass it slipped from his hand and smashed against the tiles of the bathroom floor, shattering into a thousand pieces. The sound must've echoed in the otherwise silent house because soon after the crash he heard footsteps rushing up the stairs.

"Issei?!" Yuuma said from the other side of the door, a bit of anxiety in her voice as she tried the handle only to find it locked before she slapped at the door. "Issei are you okay?!"

"I'm fine, just dropped my glass." He said as he hurriedly placed the bottles back into the mirror.

"Why'd you even have it with you?" She asked, confusion replacing her worry as she stopped hitting the door.

"I had to take some Ibuprofen, that damn couch hurt my back." He said as he placed he last of the bottles in the cabinet before he closed the mirror, which fit seamlessly against the wall like it was simply hanging there.

"I _told_ you to sleep with me, maybe you'll listen next time." Yuuma may have been unaware of how she affected men but Issei sure as hell wasn't. If he had spent the night with her last night it would've been nigh impossible to keep the status quo with her being so damn close wearing so little, he would've reacted and then where would he be? Alone, again. She didn't want him, she was to good for him. She was an angel, and he...well he wasn't.

Issei opened the door to find Yuuma standing there with a curious tilt to her brow. Her arms where crossed and she had evened out the collar of the hoodie, she looked suspicious.

"Why was the door locked?" She asked, not looking the least bit convinced. Issei looked at her with a blank expression before tilting his head to look back into the bathroom.

"It's the bathroom." He said as he brought his eyes back to her. "I used it."

"Oh." Yuuma said, her cheeks turning a little pink before she turned around and walked back stairs. Leaving Issei to follow after he cleaned up his mess.

Later on in the day, Yuuma found herself alone in Issei's house. She had waved him off earlier with the promise to lock up but it was nearing lunch and she still hadn't found it in herself to leave. She loved going about from room to room picking through his things, trying to find more that she could use to get closer to him. But since this wasn't the first time she had done so she didn't find much, she did however manage to work off some of the left over energy she had from being exposed to his aura for so long. She found great pleasure in leaving her scent around the house and in his bed most especially, she had spent four hours there alone with her hand between her legs with various different ideas and positions on her mind as she worked herself to release. It wasn't as good as when she fucked Dohnaseek but she didn't feel like leaving just yet and this was the one place she would _never_ bring him so she contented herself to four or five hours of masturbation with Issei's toothbrush, which truly was a joy in and of itself.

It felt good to mark something of his, even better when she thought about said object going into his mouth, it filled a primal need that Yuuma, now as Raynare, felt needed to be done. She was marking him, claiming him so that the next bitch that came through knew just who he belonged to. Kalawarner would call her a slut but she didn't care, that old hag didn't know how it felt to be so close to that...that...presence and not do anything about it. It was like rough sex and violence had been given a fragrance, it was like she was constantly being egged on to the edge of climax, of sanity, constantly being bombarded with desire only to be yanked back to go through it all over again, it was maddening. Raynare wished she could let Kalawarner taste as much of his aura as she had instead of the brief whiff she got as Issei passed by, but that would mean leaving her alone with Issei. And Raynare couldn't have that, Issei was hers and she would be damned if she let anyone take him from her. Not even for a second. She could tell that he would be powerful, she had waited thousands of years for someone like him and now that she had him...oh god~.

Raynare groaned into the wadded boxers she had shoved into her nose while her nether regions spurted out her nineteenth orgasm of the day all over Issei's bed. She had shucked her disguise in favor of her older, much more desirable form. Her long dark hair bleed into the whiteness of his sheets, cascading like tiny rivers of molten tar against the snowy backdrop as gravity pushed the weight of her arched body onto her head which in turn pushed it down further into the mattress before she dropped down hard against the springy mattress. Her breast heaved like great billows as she rested from her most recent exertion, their weight unfettered by gravity as they wobbled atop her chest and she smiled.

Taking one last musky breath from the underwear in her grip, Raynare let her arm fall to the mattress like a ten pound weight as her other hand gently massaged her tender folds. She stared blankly at the ceiling, her focus more on her a different sense as she breathed in the scent of the room and smiled. It smelled like her now, after hours of work and a fitful night of sleep she had done it once again. Every corner of the room, from the bed to the carpet practically wreaked of her musk and she loved it. She loved marking her territory because it was _her_ territory, no one else could've made it this far without fucking things up. Mittelt didn't have self control to keep herself in check and Kalawarner was far to stiff to actually seduce Issei. Though it wasn't without its bumps, the requirement of Dohnaseek for one, she was so close to her goal that she could taste it and for once in her life she was happy. It was amazing how one mortal boy could do this to her, sure she came to him because of his potential but so what? Human women married human men for less than that so what was the problem, she wanted him.

Like a cancer the boy himself had grown on her to the point where if she just focused on what he was saying she could almost forget about the overwhelming desire to grab him by the cock and fuck him seven ways to hell, it was kinda romantic. When she had first met him she could barely even speak to him without having to run away and find some poor guy to fuck to death, however slowly but surely she was able to force herself to spending more and more time with him. And so their relationship began, and once Dohnaseek got involved things became immensely easier, it helped that he felt threatened by the boy. That same aura that had won her over had been like a challenge to the other fallen, it had been a great stroke of luck that they had fallen in bed together or Issei would've been dead. Of course, after Issei's brought into the fold that will become a problem once again but maybe she could placate the angel long enough for Issei to settle into his powers. It was an idea at least.

The sound of the doorbell brought her from her thoughts, being alone in the house meant that she had two options, answer the door or wait for them to leave. She decided to wait, she'd just caught another whiff of Issei from something and could feel herself building up again but that soon proved unwise as the ringing became urgent and then whoever it was began to pound against the door.

At this point Raynare was highly irritated and so she stood woefully from the bed and dressed, feeling rather naughty she slipped into the pair of Issei's underwear she had been holding onto. The checkered fabric held snug against her thighs tightly, tight enough that she couldn't even button the front due to the distance between the button and its socket. Uncaring, Raynare shrugged on Issei's gray hoodie that she had worn all day except now she had a bit of trouble fitting it over her breast so now the garment that once swallowed her figure now hung like curtain off her tits, revealing her tight stomach and the back breaking curves of her hips, snugly enveloped by the cotton of Issei's underwear. Thinking back, she remembered how Issei had reacted to her younger, less developed form. The modest amount of skin she had shown had the boy nearly bursting a blood vessel, this form however would certainly give the boy a hernia. She really needed to do something about that virginity of his, though it was cute seeing him blush at every tiny glimpse at her cleavage.

Bouncing her way down the stairs she idly noted that the couch still smelled a little bit like Issei before she opened the door to find a small blonde girl wearing a Victorian era dress and twin bushes of blonde hair done in pig tails. This was Mittelt in all her boorish glory, she wasn't very seductive in nature nor was she really anything special, so it escaped Raynare how the half breed had managed to become their go between with the powers that be.

"What is it?" Raynare said, she hated being interrupted during important moments. The answer she received from the girl was her wrinkling her little nose.

"It stinks." Mittelt said bringing her hand up to cover her nose at the smell coming from the house. In response Raynare folded her arms and lent a little against the threshold, partly in satisfaction but also to allow more of her smell to wash over the little girl.

"And that little one, is how I know you're a virgin." Raynare said with a grin before her eyes drifted up and down the girls body. "That and that awful fashion sense of yours, not to mention those tiny little bumps you dare to call breast."

"Shut it you bloated milk cow, you talk about fashion sense but look at what your wearing! Where'd you even find that hoodie, sluts-R-us?!" The blonde shot back, but instead of getting angry Raynare simply smirked.

"I'll have you know that this little outfit I'm wearing, belongs to Issei. I'm just trying it out ahead of time. Seeing what works before I make my move. You see, a woman." She waved a hand down her side. "Wearing her mans clothes is more effective than you think, but you wouldn't know that of course. Being a child and all. And that smell, it's mine."

"No wounder it stinks." Mittelt said, waving a hand in front of her nose to clear the heady stench from her poor little nose. Raynare laughed.

"Oh dear child, if it weren't for that you wouldn't even be standing here. Probably off rutting in a ditch somewhere, Issei's aura is quite strong." Raynare mused at the image of little mittelt panting like a dog on her hands and knees, begging to be taken like a bitch in heat under the drowning waves of that damnable presence. It was to good not to at least crack a smile.

"Yes, and that's why I'm here." Mittelt said, ignoring the perverted smirk the older grigori had while she stared of wistfully. "We have to kill him."

**][**

Issei sat in class near the middle of the pack, about four seats away from the window. It wasn't the best of spots in the world but it was his. He greatly enjoyed him time here, it was a good school. The teachers where professional but understanding when they needed to be, though they did have some trouble with the nurse about a year ago but that was long dealt with. It was such a shame too, she was nice. He had met her a little after he arrived when he sprained his wrist in one of those five on ones he got into, the two had talked while she nursed his black eye and gave him a splint. Though, looking back, she was kinda acting funny during the whole thing. Sniffing his hair and just all around creepy now that he thought about it, not haunted house kinda creepy but more like sex offender kinda creepy. Huh, guess it wasn't really such a surprise after all that she had been caught with those boys. And to think all those times he went to see the nurse he'd been talking to a pedophile.

Anyway, Issei kinda liked the school, student body non-withstanding, the campus grounds where beautiful in a modernistic kinda way. With a red brick outer-wall encasing its perimeter the school consisted of an escalator system type school, it had various different buildings for primary, middle, and high school as well as it's own university. Most of these buildings were brand new, only being at most half a decade old or so, but there was an older building somewhere on the grounds that used to be the main building but Issei had no idea what it was used for now, maybe pre-K? Either way all of this was owned by Gremory Industries, this huge conglomerate from overseas who apparently bout the place because his kid was a huge japanophile. Go figure. Anyway, the buildings where separated by courtyards and distance with trees placed in between to give the illusion that each building was its own separate campus. The building set right in the middle was the high-school, it was also the largest building due to that year level being where the academy got the majority of their applicants. Issei himself had never been inside any of the other buildings, having only moved here about a year and some change ago, but he heard they where nice.

Since it was around twelve o'clock Issei was in the middle of his math exam, well the class was he was nearing the end of it himself. Honestly he felt that the school had eventually placed math directly next to lunch just to make kids rush during times like this, no one wanted to miss their lunch break over some dumb test. It was kind ova test within a test so to speak, to see who valued what more. The metaphorical future or the immediate present, that was an interesting train of thought. What was truly more valuable an intangible possibility of how your life could be several years from now or the ephemeral moment in time one found themselves in? Issei supposed that it was a bit of both, prepare for the future, build up your castle walls brick by brick, but live in the moment. Enjoy the experience of laying those bricks, memorize the texture of the foundation of your future so that when it too becomes the past, you would not be disappointed in your castle.

Perhaps he should've been a philosopher.

"Mr. Hyoudou. Are you finished with your test?" Said his teacher, an older man with yellow rimed glasses.

"Yes sir." Issei chirped, grabbing his papers and handing them over to the old man. Mr. Takeyama was nearing his sixties but still had a way with his students, he could intimidate the hell outta them if he wanted to. Mr. Takeyama glanced over the papers momentarily before stepping back and gesturing slightly towards the door.

"Then you may take your leave, have a good day Mr. Hyoudou." He said before turning away and walking back up the lane between his row and the one on the left. Issei quietly gathered his things and left. Quietly closing the door Issei found himself walking through the silent hallways of the academy, it was a little unnerving to tell the truth. Seeing the wide halls that usually held so many people empty was a little unnerving, it reminded him far to much of home. Which reminds him, he really needs to repaint the house. Maybe get a nice rug, yeah that'll work. A nice fluffy rug to put in the living room, maybe he'd get Yuuma to go and help him pick one out. That'll be nice, just the two of them picking out furniture. His thoughts were interrupted when he accidentally bumped into somebody, the force nearly sending the two of them to the ground. Reaching out his hand in that instantaneous response, Issei steadied the other person.

"My bad I'm sorry." He said in the breath between the impact and the actual moment he turned to see who he was talking to. "I wasn't really paying attention there." Issei looked back at the guy in his grasp and saw that the other boy had blond hair and was smiling.

"Oh don't worry about, it happens to the best of us." the blond said as he straightened his clothes and Issei did the same.

"Well you would know, from what I hear you are the best of us." Issei said having recognized the boy as the schools idol, Yuuto Kiba. "Name's Issei, nice to meet you." He said stretching out his hand.

"Oh nonsense, I'm not any better than anyone else. And I know who you are Hyoudou-san, we had history together last year." Kiba said, but still shook Issei's hand anyway. He had a good strong grip, it was a good thing to have. Though it seemed a bit to strong in Issei's opinion, almost like he wanted to crush Issei's hand but was trying not to. Issei said nothing about it tho, he just tightened his grip a bit before they both released amicably. With that done with Issei noticed the spilled papers strewn about the floor and guessed that they belonged to Kiba since he had bent down to retrieve them.

"Yeah, that's where I know you from. Here, let me give you a hand." Issei said as he too knelt down to gather what appeared to be fliers with strange symbols written over it. "Hey, what the heck are these?" Issei said holding out one of the pages, Kiba looked up for what he was doing for a moment to see the flier.

"Oh that's just a flier for a club I'm in, the Occult Research Club. We give those out every so often to see if we can attract some new members." He said as he returned to gathering the fallen papers up off the floor.

"Occult Research Club." Well that explained the weird magic circle printed on the front. "Guess it's a stupid question to ask what you guys do."

"Well, I personally believe that no asked question is stupid." He said as he stood up and straightened the stack using Issei's offered back. "But we also assist people with their own paranormal experiences."

"Sounds great, I would consider joining but I've already have my afternoons booked." Issei said after handing Kiba his own stack. "I work."

"Oh really? Where at, is it any place I know?" Kiba asked while he worked Issei's pile into his own.

"Nah, I work with this local construction company in town. They go around building various things from houses to fences, just yesterday we fixed this woman's roof off of fifth street." Issei said, he never figured he'd actually talk so long with Kiba, the guy was practically a god to the girls here at school so it was a bit surprising that the guy knew his name. It was possible he had picked it up from some of the girls, he was known to be their knight in shinning armor at times so it wasn't much of a stretch for them to ask Kiba to keep an eye on him. Even so the conversation was friendly enough, the stern handshake notwithstanding.

"It's very admirable for one our age to do such hard labor, there are many ways one could fall at this age but that is not one of them. You should be proud of yourself." Kiba said, making Issei actually feel a sense of pride in himself.

"Thanks." Issei said and Kiba nodded before looking down.

"You know what." He reached down and grabbed a paper out of the stack and held it out. "Take one, I'm sure the club could use a guy like you if you can find the time."

"Well damn, thanks." Issei reached out and grabbed the slip of paper and pulled, the slip seemed to hesitate for a moment before it gave way and was stuffed into the inside pocket of Issei's jacket. After that the two bid their goodbyes and Issei made his way to lunch.

Seeing as how he had actually gotten an extra twenty minuets for lunch, Issei was in a bit of a debate with himself over whether or not to step off of campus for lunch there was a nice little deli not to fare from the school that Mr. Takao had shown him. It had a pretty good selection from what he remembered, but it was a little pricey compared to the Subway three blocks down. Either way he'd have to leave school grounds and then sneak back in which could lead to a rather uncomfortable encounter with the student council, he'd already had three run ins with them so far and wasn't really looking forward to another. Neither of his options were worth that, though if he could manage to snag another of Ms. Amano's pot pies that would be worth another sit down from Ms. Sitori. Yeah, that sounded like a good idea. He was gonna stop by there this afternoon anyway so why not kill two birds with one stone, He'd stop by and see how she's doing, and get free food!

"Hey blue boy!"

 _Oh dear god why? Why do this to me now, I'm hungry!_ Issei whined in his brain as he tried to ignore the person that had called out to him. These pricks have been fucking with him for over a year now and Issei didn't know if they where just stupid or trying to prove something by hounding him all year, probably both. He heard the sound of jogging feet and mentally groaned just before he felt a hand slap against the back of the head.

"Hey prick I know you heard me." A boy said as he came into view, he had a bald head and piercings in both ears running along the edge down to the lobe. This was Mako Tsudohara, and he was the leader of a gang of assholes that were a pain in Issei's ass.

"Yeah I heard you Mako, piss off." Issei said as his picked up his pace, trying to leave the boys behind proved futile however as he was suddenly wrenched back by the handle of his bag which nearly made him lose his footing, but luckily there was a nice brick wall to catch his fall as he was pushed into it. The kid that had his hands on Issei was sturdily built fat kid about a head taller than Issei with a squashed face and a harelip scar, they called him Twoso because he supossedly had a twin, that he ate.

"Come on blue boy, you don't need to talk like that. We're all friends here." Mako said coming closer and leaning against the wall to Issei's right while Twoso held him against the wall.

"Yeah blue boy, we're all friends." Echoed a little boy that bounced around them like a frog, this was Wart. He was mostly the tag along, following Mako and keeping him hyped up. Wart was a flighty little thing with a large cluster of acne all over his face.

"See!" Mako pointed a thumb at wart who hopped in and out of view from behind Twoso, who doesn't talk much. "So as friends you mind telling me why the fuck I saw you talking to Koneko Tojo outside school yesterday?"

"Fuck you, that's why." Issei said, but apparently that wasn't a good enough answer as soon enough Mako had blasted Issei in the stomach forcing a grunt out of him. He felt Mako's fist bounce against his spleen, which was an odd feeling. A painful one, but odd. Issei had little chance to fight back as he couldn't rightly overpower Twoso, the guy's family ran a damn fitness club for gods shake. Which made it a little strange that the guy was still so fat, must be his metabolism.

A slap to the face drug Issei out of his thoughts as fingers gripped his hair and pushed his head back against the wall at an odd angle so that he had to look up at Mako, who had a bugger up his nose. It was nasty looking, big and slimy just past his nostrils just ready to fly off any minute. That was just what Issei needed, a big fat booger just sneezed onto his face, then and only then, would his day be perfect.

Not.

"Listen here blueboy, I don't know how much of a lolicon you are, and I don't really care, but Wart over there has had his eye on that cunt for a while now and I told him he'd have first dibs. Didn't I Wart?" Mako said.

"Yeah boss, that you did. Mhm mhm." Wart looked as happy as a pig in shit what with that frog lipped mouth of his curled into a sleazy smile that covered his greasy pimpled face.

"So you see, she's spoken for. And while we're at it so are Rias and Akeno, I got my claim on them. So if I see you trying to put the moves on anyone of them." Issei felt something cold and hard pressing against his cheek, the light shining off the cool metal of the switchblade Mako had in his hand. "I'll kill ya. I'll gut you from asshole to tearduct and bury you beneath five tons of concrete." You see, there was a little interesting fact about Mako. His mother was Ameyuri Tsudohara, who owned the largest construction business in town. So yeah, five tons of concrete.

"And if you don't think I will, just remember this." Mako jerked his hand down hard, roughly dragging the switchblade down Issei's face and slicing open his cheek from just under the corner of his eye to his chin. Twoso let Issei drop to the floor, whether from shock or some signal Issei didn't know, nor did he really care at the moment due to the new freaking hole in his face. Enough was enough, Issei had had it with this motherfucker. If this prick felt like he could get away with this then fuck him, fuck his buddies, and fuck his stupid fucking parents for making such a colossal goddamn idiot.

Issei popped up from the floor and nailed Twoso right in his three chins, the force of the blow made the quiet giant fall on his ass while Issei twisted around and brought that same arm down into an elbow that paid Mako back for the gut shot right in the sternum. Mako bent over and spat out all over the floor as Issei turned around for wart only to find him gone, he was a quick little bastard.

"You stupid son of a bitch." Mako choked out as he hobbled around trying to breath. "You just fucked. Your whole life." He wheezed out before Issei turned to him and roughly grabbed him by the hair before slamming him into the wall then beating him in the face before Twoso managed to grab him from behind. The large boy tossed Issei up and brought him back down over his shoulder, Issei hit the ground roughly but was up a second later to dodge a wild swing from Twoso. Issei wasn't planning of wrestling with this guy so he did the only surefire thing he could think of and kicked the fat kid in the nuts. He wasn't proud of it, he wouldn't be writing home about it but it brought the heavyweight to the ground and that was enough because just as soon as Twoso hit the floor a weight landed on Issei's back and he stumbled forward right into a punch from Mako, whose face was starting to bruise and swell as blood dribbled from his nose. The blow landed against his eye and burst a few blood vessels in the eye as the force sent Issei back towards Wart.

Wart bounced off Issei's back once again apparently trying to send him to the floor where the group could gang up on him. But Issei showed a remarkable sense of balance and remained on his feet and instead managed to grab a hold of Wart and threw him off towards Mako who was thrown to the floor by the combined force of Wart's momentum and weight. This wasn't his first rodeo against a group so Issei knew how to deal with them by keeping his eyes on them all and bouncing from one to another. Following this principal, Issei checked on Twoso and saw that the large boy was starting to rise so he quickly field goal kicked him right in the head. Knocking the guy out.

With the muscle dealt with Issei turned to see Mako rushing him with the knife. Already fueled by adrenaline and rage, Issei slapped the knife away and forced Mako to run headfirst into his other hand which closed around Mako's throat and choke slammed him into the floor. Placing one knee on both arms, Issei knelt down with his hand still clasped around Mako's neck. The hot blood dripping down his face from the still bleeding wound fueled Issei's rage as he choked Mako into the floor. He had had it with all the bullshit, he put up with a lot of shit out of these three but he'd be damned if he let this slide. He was going to teach them a lesson. With a clenched fist he punched Mako in the mouth and didn't stop till a pair of teachers dragged him off Mako and by then the kid was barely conscience.


	3. Chapter 3

Issei didn't know what was scarier, the American school system or the Japanese. You see, in America when one gets into a fight it was usually broken up by the teachers and then those involved where sent to deal with the vice principal, usually a big glowering middle aged man with a few fitness degree's hanging on his walls where the two had to sit through a lecture from the angry man who usually just had his lunch break interrupted by a bunch of pissy kids, before they were sent home to again deal with their angry, or proud, parents. But, and Issei didn't know if it was just this school or not, in Kuoh academy he wasn't sitting in some office, he was sitting in the school infirmary getting stitches sewn into his face while, and this was the scary part, the school president watched him like a hawk.

She stood towards the side of the room with a couple of frustrated, but patient, looking cops by the door just in case he bolted. She was a tiny thing, short and rather cute if it weren't for that ice cold death glare that she had welded to her face all the time. That, and her chilly composure made for a good president, but shitty bedside manner. She was waiting on the male nurse to finish Issei's stitches and give her the all clear before she began giving Issei the third degree. Until then Issei did his best to just sit there and keep his mouth shut while the adrenaline ran rampant through his system, it was hell trying to keep still when all you wanted to do was sprint out the door. In an effort to keep calm, Issei's foot bounced up and down on the bottom rung of the stool he was stationed on, up and down up and down over and over again like a rabid rabbit humping the air. It helped a bit, at least he wasn't completely still. That would've driven him mad. Finally, the job was done and Issei was given a dose a pain killers for when the anesthetic wore off.

"Look Souna, I swear I didn't-" He began while the nurse was placing a square stick on bandage over the wound but was interrupted.

"I thought we were over this Hyoudou-san." Souna began after a deep, burdened sigh. "You had come so far this year that I had hoped it was all over, but it seems you are incapable of saying out of trouble."

"He had a knife Souna, he cut open my face and threatened my life. You can't honestly say that you expected me to just sit there and take it. I had a right to defend myself." Issei argued, he didn't like that tone of hers. She spoke like he was some pet that just shit on the carpet. "There's a camera around there somewhere, just look at the tape and you'll see that I tried to walk away, I've had to deal with those idiots for months and not once did I swing at 'em. Not when they stole my lunch, not when they slapped me upside the head, not when they tripped me in the halls, I even let them slide when they dumped that bucket of water on my head." Issei said, counting on his fingers. "But there was no way in hell I was gonna let that motherfucker use a knife on me and get away with it!"

Issei was pissed, the adrenaline in his veins heightened his emotional response to his anger and he jumped up from the stool and towered over Souna's petite frame as he shouted, causing the police officers to push off from the wall, but Souna waved them down with a lazy motion of one of the hands of her crossed arms, not even bothering to look at them. She knew they would comply, just as she knew Issei wouldn't hurt her. This was just his process, He would huff and puff, but eventually he would calm down and they cold return to civil conversation.

It didn't take long for Issei to do just that. With a huff, he plopped back down on his stool and slouched heavily forward.

"Thanks Souna, I didn't really need to be tazed today." He said, bringing his hands to his face and running his fingers through his hair. "So how long is it this time?" He asked with a heavy sigh.

"A week and one day, I'll have someone collect your school work for the time being and have it sent to you. I know it isn't fair to you, but if it is any consolation Mako has been expelled." Souna said, but it didn't seem as if that brought any comfort to Issei as he just sat staring at the wall with a hand loosely covering his mouth. The bruised knuckles of his hand rested along his chin while his fingers fanned out from under his nose to loosely curl under his chin, he looked thoughtful as he sat there with his thumb supporting the weight of his head while his elbow rested on his knee. Something was on his mind, she could tell but as long as it didn't effect the school it was really none of her business. "I expect you to be gone within the hour."

And with that she was gone, taking the officers with her to probably deliver the news to Mako about his expulsion. It was to bad really, the kids dad just got outta jail and they really couldn't find any better schools for him to go to in the city. Though his mother could pull some strings, she didn't have enough juice to reverse the expulsion. When it all boiled down, Mako had brought a weapon onto school grounds and used it on another student. But somehow, Issei knew he was going to be the one to pay for it.

With a sigh Issei stood up from the stool and bid the sandy haired nurse goodbye with a thank you for the pain killers he handed Issei as he walked out. Stepping out into the hallway Issei was just about to put on his jacket when a flash of red turned his eye towards the nearby stairwell.

There, on the second floor of the building stood a girl, about a year older than him, with unnaturally long red hair just staring at him with a mild expression on her pretty face. She was a foreigner, some European country if he had to guess but she stood with the simple confidence that she owned the place, which wasn't much of a stretch considering her father did. As curvaceous as her body was, it was her hair that drew him in. the thick crimson cords shifted gently in the slight breeze from the open window behind her, the bright strands practically glowing against the otherwise sparseness of the world around it. She could be described as beautiful, beautiful and bright. Like a snake.

Pushing his sore bandaged knuckles through the soft leather sleeve, Issei paid her no mind and bent to retrieve his bag which was resting against the wall beside the door. Most would stop and gape and wounder why the most popular girl in the school was just staring at him but Issei didn't have the time nor the energy to deal with it. Perhaps she and Mako had a thing going after all, or maybe she just didn't like him. Either way he gave her a lazy wave of his hand as he passed by beneath the stairwell and left her there, lording over the balustrade with the sun piercing through the window at her back as she watched him leave.

"Quite something isn't it." Akeno said to Rias as she suddenly appeared at her side, having bounced her way down the stairs just as Issei pushed open the doors to the outside. "The most desired girl in school staring him down and he doesn't even flinch, if you don't take him I will~." She trilled teasingly as she came to a stop next to her friend.

"Oh hush." Rias said, looking towards her friend. "Still, I'm beginning to understand Kiba's reservations. That aura is...unpleasant to say the least." It was a dense concentration of negativity, it promised violence, violence and hunger. A hunger for what, she did not know but it piqued the interest of her less civilized nature.

"Not entirely, it does have it's subtle notes. You have to admit it makes him intriguing." Akeno remarked with a twinkle in her eye, she was of course referencing the promised violence the air around seemed to pulse with as he passed by. "Anyway, fifth period is about to start so come on or we'll be late."

Issei pushed through the glass door to the bakery with a bit of urgency, his good mood had plummeted since earlier and he could smell the fresh baked goodies from down the street so he was now hungry. Stepping into the main room that was lined with chairs and speckled with round tables Issei was pleased to see that it was relatively empty with the exception of Ms. Amano who stood behind the counter kneading dough.

"Hey Ms. Amano, how's it going?" Issei called halfheartedly as he made his way to a chair. His body was still a bit sore from the fight and his jaw ached something fierce so he decided to sit down instead of standing next to the counter like he usually did.

"Ah Issei, to what do I owe the pleasure?" Ms. Amano said, not bothering to look up and confirm who it was, the sudden rush of endorphins in her system as the wave of anger and lust washed over her was all to familiar, though now it was just a touch stronger than usual. She was usually able to keep her self cool under it's effects through a ridged training regime and an iron bar will, she would not devolve into a braying slathering whore at the presence of a mere boy.

"Hungry." Issei said, leaning back tiredly against the window behind him. The adrenaline had run through him by now so he was bone tired and it reflected in his voice. His voice had morphed into that deep and husky tone that men get after a long and hard day of intense physical labor, and it pricked the woman's ears to hear it and caused her to apply more force to her dough.

"Well then, Yuuma isn't home so you'll have to make do with my cooking young Issei." She flattened the dough one last time before moving over to a separate table to lay it out among several others before her hand grasped the handle of a common circular cookie cutter.

"All the better, I was actually hoping I could talk you outta one or two of those pot pies. You do make the best after all." Issei said with a groan as he tried to get comfortable in the hard plastic chair. The woman, hidden by a stone partisan that cut off the kitchen from the storefront, found herself smiling at the complement for a few seconds as she cut the cookies into neat little rows, before she metaphorically slapped it off of her face. It appears that she would be running an extra twelve miles this evening.

"Don't let Yuuma hear that, otherwise that'll be all you eat for the next week or so till you retract that statement. She's quite the competitor that one, gets it from her father." She said, ignoring the slight grunting going on over her head from the upstairs apartment as Issei chuckled from the next room.

"Now that is a sacrifice I am willing to make, but I get how she feels. She's got a lot to live up to with you as a role model." That damn smile was threatening to curl her lips again, sometimes even her iron will couldn't hold out against that aura laced charm he had. It was simple, about the best that could be expected from a teenager but with her nerves already on fire from the burning spring coiling tighter and tighter within her belly with each exchange it was as effective as any silver tongued devil in all corners of hell. Still, Kalawarner was stubborn and she was sure she could handle it as she had done on many occasions but a particularly load squeal from upstairs made a bolt of fear strike her cold. The coiling spring snapped and a jittering nervousness shook her body as she froze mid step, her hand shook while holding the baking pan full of cookie dough just before the opened oven with her back bent and her eyes wide. Her head began spinning with the force of her prayers that Issei didn't hear that and her silent curses sent towards the fools that could so easily tear apart the whole operation!

"Hey, what was that?" She heard Issei say from the front, and her heart began beating erratically as she struggled to calm it while she finished placing the tray in the oven and setting the timer.

"I don't know, Julius must have left the TV on when he left this morning." She rushed out, making a stupid excuse in her rush to control the situation and just as quickly away she said. "Anyway, shouldn't you be at school?" Kalawarner asked, trying to figure out a way to get Issei out of the shop before those idiots ruined everything! Months and months of work was about to be thrown away because someone couldn't control her urges! Goddamn it!

"Ah, don't worry about it something came up..." Issei droned off as a rapid thumping caught his attention. "Okay what the hell-?" He said as he stood from his seat.

"Issei!" Kalawarner snapped, and inwardly winced at how sharp and biting it was. "I don't have time for this, if you are hungry then go home! This isn't a charity and I do not have time to waste making you a snack do you understand?!" At her sudden shout all noise ceased, even she didn't dare move a muscle in the ensuing silence and those above had halted their actions as the backdrop of the early afternoon poured in to fill the gap of sound made in the little shop. The aura, which she and all members of her 'family' had become acutely keyed to grew dark and heavy, and turned from a gentle mist that lightly coated the skin into a thick and choking fog, she thought she was going to die. That something had switched on or off in Issei's brain and that whatever it was inside of him had awakened and it was going to kill them all…and then it was gone.

It was as if it had been forced to the floor, beaten and pressed down till it was not but a swirling blue haze across the floor. Noise returned in the form of a soft, sad little chuckle followed by three steps before something tapped against the glass atop of the counter.

"Yes, Ms. Ameno...I understand." Issei said with a quiet sigh before he left the store, the jingling of the bell signaling his departure. It had only taken but a minute, but to Kalawarner it felt like an eternity huddled beneath the table as she was.

It took her awhile to convince herself that she was indeed alive, her pulse hammered in her veins because her heart was beating a mile a minute as it tried to make up for the eight or so beats she felt it missed when that choking pressure surfaced. She didn't know how it could've existed inside such a young boy, her hands shivered in fear. A fear that gradually drained away as she sat pressed against the wall, trying to calm herself in the face of recent events, and slowly fell from her limbs and into her gut where it began to churn. The fear swirled around and around until it turned into a dark hunger. A dark hunger she, and many of her kind felt as the driving force of their fall from grace. For decades she had fought to control it, going to extreme physical and psychological lengths to control her baser instincts to the point where she did not fear falling to them as many had done. But that…wrath sent tingles down her spine that she didn't know how to explain and it threatened to undo many many years of hard work.

 _No!_ Kalawarner screamed in her mind. _I. Will. Not. Devolve. Into. Raynare!_

With each word and claw like fingers she dragged her self up, sliding her body against the wall with gritted teeth and an iron will. She forced down the fire in her loins and sent it upwards and turning it into rage.

Set into the wall was a simple overhang made of tile plastered onto concrete, from the storefront looking inward a single hand slapped on top of the short wall with such force it cracked and several tiles dropped to the floor in a haze of dust while the figure of a tall, busty woman with long dark hair and fury written all over her face. A fury that fueled Kalawarner's charge across the shop, up the spiral staircase, and through, read _through_ , the wooden door of a certain room where she found a nude Dohnaseek frozen above an equally nude Raynare with the lower half of both still and hidden beneath a set of blankets.

It took a moment for both to register the fact that their door had blown off its hinges as shock was apparent on their faces but as soon as it did it acted as the starting pistol for Raynare to throw Dohnaseek across the room mid transformation from her true form into that of the seventeen year old Yuma and leap from the bed.

"Issei!" She called as she ran in a blind panic towards the door as if she didn't notice the wroth filled form of Kalawarner or perhaps she ignored her as she tried to dash past her and out the open door. From the way that she acted it seemed as if she was more worried about said boy than the current situation, but the claw like grip of the larger woman's hand grabbing her by the throat quickly reset her priorities.

"No!" Kalawarner roared as she pivoted and slammed the girl against the wall. "You have done enough for today!" Her grip tightened but the seemingly younger girl struggled desperately against her hold by kicking and pulling at her hands as she squirmed. It was a downside of Raynare's transformation abilities, she only possessed the abilities of that form so right now she was completely human. Of course she could always morph back but it seems she wasn't thinking clearly, neither was Kalawarner for that matter. She was busy trying to burn out her lust by turning it to anger so she was blinded to this.

"Let me go you old hag!" Yuma demanded as she struggled.

"No." Kalawarner said as she activated her magic and crafted a swirling purple barrier around the whole of the building. "You couldn't have chosen a worse time to act like a slathering whore, the boy was just downstairs and could've heard everything. As a matter of fact he did hear you two, and I had to damn near burn the entire operation to keep him out of here you idiots." Kalawarner's head snapped back towards Dohnaseek for a second before she tossed Yuma to the floor next to him as a four black wings sprung up from her back each crackling with power as the pair cowered. "We have no clue as to what we are dealing with here, but from what I just witnessed this unceasing rutting of yours could've doomed us all! He could be any number of things, each to valuable for me to let the two of you ruin this chance for the Grigori." Kalawarner's yellow eyes settled down on Yuma, who had now morphed back into Raynare.

"Raynare." She said to the younger woman. "I agreed to accompany you on this expedition as both a favor to you and at the request of lord Azazel as an extra precaution. So far I have let you determine the pace of things despite your age and lack of restraint due to your level of competence when it comes to seduction, I understood the need for Dohnaseek seeing as how Issei's aura affects us fallen, but it seem as if you have lost sight of the objective so I am now taking over."

"What!? You can't do that!" She protested, but a quick glare from Kalawarner shut her down.

"I can and I will. Unfortunatly in order to protect the operation I had to adversely affect the relationship between Issei and the Mrs. Ameno persona, so in order to correct this you and I are going to make him a meal. Then you will deliver it to him at his home where you will then proceed to the second stage of the operation." Raynare's face paled.

"The...second stage?" She asked hesitantly.

"Yes, after dinner and whatever else that needs done you will sleep with Issei." Kalawarner's face was as cold as stone, she no longer wished to have anything to do with that boy nor his aura. She had already wasted over a year on this operation and while she was already over a century old the awakening of her long dormant lust had sapped any patience she had.

"B-but i-."

"No. I will not here it. You have already wasted enough of my time on this, you will proceed to phase two and you will garner every ounce of skill in your repertoire to make this a success. It does not matter if our assumption turns out to be wrong because if it is we will dispose of him accordingly." With that Kalawarner left the room, fully expectant of Raynare to follow the unspoken command.

Raynare herself sat slumped against the wall, a bevy of complicated emotions crossing her face as Dohnaseek stood and uncaringly gathered his clothes and then left as the barrier fell, leaving the conflicted angel alone with her thoughts.

*][*

Dumping his bag against the wall Issei kicked off his shoes and headed further into the house, all was quiet. Stepping into the main hall of his house Issei looked both left and right into the kitchen and the living room respectivly only to find them empty. In the kitchen the mess from that morning was gone, replaced by the sparkling white of the tiles and the gleam of the steel sink as a single ray of light reflected off of its polished surface. It was beautiful, the theme of blue on white with a splash of thick grained wooden counter tops and preparation tables. The whole kitchen had a homey feel to it, much better than the spartan form and function of what it once was. But still, something was missing. Though now, unlike before, it looked warm and comforting, it was now like a candle flickering in the wind. It lacked the tinder that made it into the bonfire it could be.

On the opposite side, to the right, the living room was just as cold. The stillness of the air drained the life out of the dark leather sofa, the silence on the breeze deadened the warmth from the fireplace and caused the light to empty wholly from the room because it to lacked something. The sight of the dark colored furniture against the white of the walls looked appropriately winterized as Issei realized that the sun had gone, Yuma was no longer here.

Of course he knew that was an entirely reasonable possibility, she should be at school by now not waiting around his house all day. She had a future to prepare for after all, and no matter how much he wanted it, he wasn't a part of that future.

It had taken him four minutes, four minutes of looking over the various little touches Yuma had left in his life, the blues and purples. When she first arrived at his home it was a standard black, and white with simple furnishings and appliances, now it was more her home than his anyway. She belonged here, while he...didn't belong anywhere. Those four minutes that it took him to make his way from the door to his bathroom were all it took for a familiar chill to settle in the house

As he opened the door he thought back to his earlier interaction with Yuma's mother. He felt guilty for assuming that she and him had that sort of relationship where he could expect her to stop everything just to cater to his whims. He was such and idiot, and he felt equally guilty for thinking he had the right to feel angry about it. She ran a business and knew him not from Adam so after a brief moment of letting his temper run wild he reeled it in with that sudden realization that no matter how long they had known each other, no matter how civil she was on account of his and Yuma's friendship they, him and Mrs. Ameno, were not in fact friends and he had carried the weight of that realization all the way home with him where he had unreasonably hoped that Yuma would still be there, the summer to his ever blowing winter, it didn't help that the house practically sang with her scent. Her perfume permeated throughout the house even with her gone.

With that on his mind, Issei sighed and stood before the sink to reach up and once again open the mirrored cabinet that was sunk into the wall and once again began to slowly remove the various bottles and prescriptions from the shelves. This was a ritual of sorts, every mourning and night he took these pills to ease his passing of days. Each one momentarily halting the breaking down of his body for just another day, a day that he hoped would lead him further to happiness. But as he laid eyes on the many different plastic jars of medicine he saw that each and every one of them where nearly empty, from his cyclophosphamide to his Azathioprine and the more obscure and herbal remedies, each and every bottle was on its last legs. He needed money, he could barely afford the prescriptions as it was but with what little savings he had going towards the house he would last if he got the call he had been dreading all day.

All Issei could do was hope and pray he didn't get that phone call…

But as all things go, life never went his way and he got the call.

"...yes sir I understand. Can I at least get my things from the warehouse?" Issei sat with his hand cradling his head while the other held his phone against his ear as he lent over his dining room table. It was dark now, and he had been dozing on the couch with a book when he got that thrice be-damned phone call. He knew it was coming, he could feel it in the ache of his bones and the moment he heard about Mako being in the hospital he knew it was coming. In all honesty, he was surprised it had taken this long.

"No Issei, Ameyuri doesn't want you within a mile of anything to do with the company. Look, I like you and I know how Mako is. He's a spoiled little brat that needed his ass kicked, but...Issei they had to wire his jaw shut...I...I didn't even think that you could even do that but..." Mr. Tekao paused and Issei could feel the mans astonishment and all Issei felt was shame. He had taken it to far, he had let his temper take hold and now he was paying the price. "There's nothing I can do Issei, just be thankful we're not pressing charges and leave it at that. I'll send Baki around with with your things but he's gonna need your key." And with that he hung up, leaving Issei to drop his head onto the bed of his crossed arms and stare at the far wall from the table. With his chin resting against the crevice between his crossed arms Issei's mind grew cold. He did not cry, he had no desire to as crying never solved anything over than ventilation. Instead he fell back into that cold emotionless mindset that he had once had, his years in the church had given him such a mindset. Packed like sardines into small rooms with dozens of other children while a hundred more littered the complex, each fighting to survive under the cruel noses of the priesthood.

All emotion faded away and instead, he focused on the problem. He sat on a deadline, he had one week to gather enough funds to continue living here with Yuma. He could, but wouldn't, sell the house, it was no more his than the tree was the birds. Any job that he could find in town would either take to long to get or not pay enough for him to afford another round of his medication which cost him nearly two grand a month and that was just the medication he got through normal channels, no what he needed was a lot of money real fast and he only had one way to get it.

With his mind made up, Issei straightened himself in his seat and reached for his phone before he left the table and headed for the basement. Opening the door to his immediate right was a wall that held a light switch which he flicked on as he made his way down the stairs that now burst into view due to the light. At the bottom of the stairs was a large room filled with exercise equipment at one end with a variety of mats covering the floor with a large area bare with the exception of extra padding on the floor.

When his bare feet touched the mats at the bottom of the stairs Issei turned to his immediate right and walked purposefully pass the treadmill and bench press, stepped over the dumbbells and went to the furthest wall where a large ventilation grate was sunk into the concrete.

Crouching next to the grate Issei placed his phone gently onto the floor and grabbed the bars of the vents with both hands and pulled. If one where to be standing behind him, they would notice the many different groups of muscles along his back and arms flare to life as his lifted the steel grate out from the wall and gently laid it atop a conveniently placed pile of extra mats, careful not to leave any scratches on the floor. Then he fell to the floor, his legs running the length of the wall as his left arm darted inside the vent all the way to the shoulder as he supported himself with his right hand against the wall. After a moment of feeling around the sound of dragging filled the room as his arm pushed against the wall. Inch after inch of his arm left the hole covered in dirt and dust before he finally pulled free a long and wide metal box that looked like a school locker in length and shape but without the air vents and it had a steel ring bolted to the top which Issei used to pull it free and dropped it onto a long cushioned mat that he had placed before the hole.

The box appeared only a few years old and had a few scratches in its surface with a large combination lock with twelve tumblers securing it closed. With practiced ease Issei rotated the tumblers quickly and pulled the lock free from the box and opened the heavy metal lid only halfway as he reached inside and, ignoring all the other things crammed inside, pulled out a yellowed slip of paper before closing the box, reattaching the lock, and shoving the box back into the wall then reattaching the grate.

Sitting on the stacked up mats, Issei punched the number written on the paper into his phone and pressed the call button before purposefully hanging up after three seconds then immediately calling again. He repeated this process again and again with specific gaps in between before he hung up for the last time and then waited.

He didn't have to wait long because the phone rang about ten seconds after and he immediately answered.

"Does your offer still stand?"

*][*

Yuma stood before the door hesitantly, her hair was curled and she wore clothes that fell somewhere in the hazy region between purity and seduction with a large amount cleavage showing from the taunt fabric of her shirt that hugged snugly against her body and the jeans she wore showed off nothing she wasn't prepared to, which was everything, and she was certain she looked as irresistible as she could be but still...she was nervous. Standing there with an assortment of large and small sealed tuberware she couldn't help but fidget.

It wasn't because she was cold, in fact the night air was uncharacteristically warm for the season and several beads of sweat would've already ruined her get up if Yuma were human. No it wasn't outside stimuli that had her nerves on end, it was in fact rather trivial in the face of her occupation.

She was nervous over a boy. A boy, not some dashing supernatural being like Azazel-sama, but a quiet little seventeen year old bookworm.

' _If things_ _go_ _according to plan'_ She began in her mind as she stood before the door, a light blush beginning to shine on her pretty face. ' _Then Issei and me will_ _become one…'_ Yuma closed her eyes for a moment before she realized how she had just phased her thoughts. It was as if this would be her first time, she had even used her 'Yuma' voice to think it.

' _Ehh! Why did I just phrase it like that? I'm not a damn virgin, and if it weren't for the kids age I would show him a thing or two.'_ She growled at herself, having surprised herself with that train of thought. It wasn't like her to show such attachment to one of her marks, but then again it wasn't like her to spend so much time with one either. It was just...so comfortable. Once you got past that cloud around him there was this bubble of calm. Like the eye of the storm it just drew you in and made you want to stay there, Issei had this maturity to him that made it easy to drop the teenager act and let the thirty-one year old woman that she truly was come out during conversation. He just spoke with aged wisdom at times that made her forget that he was seventeen. He understood such complicated features about life that even she had trouble comprehending, she felt safe around him and in a way she admired him.

Which made her duty all the much harder. She didn't dare tell Kalawarner, but orders had come down that Issei needed to be taken out. She didn't know why Lord Azazel changed his mind but…Issei didn't deserve to die. Her hands tightened around her cargo and frustration boiled inside as she fervently tried to wish it all away but of course it wouldn't go away. She couldn't even plead his case because she had no political worth or backing in the grigori, she was just a silly little whore with a crush. What could she do but cry and beg like an idiot when it wouldn't do any good, she'd only get herself killed and what good would that do Issei? No, what she needed was time. She had to get Issei to awaken his Sacred Gear and just hope it was good enough to save his life, but if it wasn't then she'd find a way to save the man she-

"Oh Ms. Ameno! What are you doing around here this time of the night?" Called an elderly voice from across the street. Spinning around Yuma spotted the wrinkled old man that was Issei's neighbor Ryukyu peeking out from behind his door.

"Hello Mr. Ryukyu! I was just bringing Issei something to eat, it didn't seem like he had such a good day today and mom and I thought that a nice home cooked meal would cheer him up." She said with a smile towards the old man as she held up the stack of plastic containers in her arms.

"Well that was very nice of you child, but I'm afraid it's a wasted effort you see Issei left on a trip hours ago. Looked like he was in quite the rush." The old man said as he walked across the street with a note in his hands.


	4. Chapter 4

_**I apologize for how long its been, I suffer from depression and I ask for your understanding. I tend to fall into states of deep apathy and loss all energy to actually do the things that I enjoy such as writing. Life hasn't been the best of friends in these past few months so I have neglected my stories for far to long, and for that I am sorry. It is disrespectful to you, the audience, and to the characters within.**_

 _ **With deep respect, and admiration, I continue my tale.**_

 ***][***

The moon shone upon a mountain clearing, nestled in the neck of the mountain vista with a glittering view of the sea from the rich manor built on the slope, if it wasn't on fire. But it was, the rich imported wood was smoldering to ash that settled upon still figures scattered across the clearing. A lone figure walked between beast of various shapes and sizes, some in the shape of a man only monstrously proportioned with colored skin and horns, but all were perforated by bullets, or gutted by a burning sword of light. The dead consisted of Oni, the Japanese cousin of the western Ogre. The two species shared biological similarities, such as increased musculature, large bodies, and a pack mentality. However, Oni were as smart as humans, often capable of reasoning and often created family units like humans did. Also unlike Ogres Oni possessed a set of horns which some believed housed their ability to regenerate at such a remarkable rate, sometimes even regrowing limbs in the most powerful of individuals and, but there were exceptions, as was the case for Ibaraki-Doji, arguably the most powerful of all Oni, who could not regrow his severed arm though that hadn't stopped him from being an ultimate class being.

Thankfully, while the outcast of many clans where present, Ibaraki-Doji was not in attendance or this night would have gone entirely different. Instead it was just a bunch of hornless that had grouped together under one Agaro Dosuki, a gold skinned Oni known for his strength. Agoro Dosuki was resentful of the status quo and had, years ago, gone on a rampage in the human world and was thus exiled by his clan, becoming a clanless in the process after the clan head ripped off his horns.

This hatred made him seek to form an army of the hornless to 'cleanse the world of human filth' and establish a new government lead by Oni. The idea had seemed ludicrous at first, but as the years went by Agaro drew more and more support with even a few lesser clans falling under his sway the idea seemed to be nearing a reality. It was when the Ibuki clan, one of the five great clans, began to listen that the Lady of Kyoto decided it was time to remove the hornless rebellion.

And as luck would have it she had received a phone call soon after.

"It's such a shame they had to die." Yasaka said bitterly, she stood just under the treeline beneath the swaying branched that protected her, her outfit, and her beautiful blonde hair from the raining ash. "All this young life snuffed out."

"Don't." Said a voice, drawing her attention from the scene to the man who had spoken as he appeared next to her, bloodied bag in hand. He wore a long dark coat, thick and ragged it fell to his knees which were clad in black pants caked in the horrid mixture of blood and dirt that covered his shoes. She had known this man for many years, and in many ways. Once he was as tall and strong as the mountains, but now he just seemed tired, but his presence still spoke of strength. The way he held himself was strong, tense, at the ready but also compliant to the weight of the world set on his shoulders as they bent beneath his coat. He stood there, a great scar splitting the baldness of his head. There had once been a full, and beautiful head of hair there once but it seemed fate had taken that away from him as well.

"Pardon?" The woman ruffled, she was a little surprised by his voice if she was being honest.

"Don't act like death doesn't excite you." He said roughly, the pain of a dozen wounds turning his voice gruff and his mood sour. But Yasaka smiled, though she had only known him for a brief blip of her own existence, he still possessed a knowledge of her that confounded her. It would've sweet, it was sweet but the circumstances of his existence, of how small and fragile it was, soured it.

"I never said it didn't." she said while turning her attention back to the burning house. "But it is a shame that so many died for the arrogance of a fool." Yasaka paused for a moment before casting a side long glace towards he bloodstained companion. "But then again if they hadn't been so foolish, you would've been outta luck."

The man said nothing as his body slowly relaxed. With her sharp ears and her acute eyes, Yasaka could hear the soft hiss as his wounds closed ever so slowly, and she could see the faint trembling of his hands.

"Even so Adam, its nice to have you here, working for me again." she said wistfully, the dark shapes of her tails twisting happily behind her. "It's almost like old times, but I never thought I'd hear from you ever again."

"I needed the money." Said Adam, his voice slowly becoming calmer and gentler as the hissing subsided, like the man she used to know.

"So you said." She acknowledged with a dip of her head. She missed the days when he would at least pretend. "Will you be staying the night?" She asked, the tiny bit of hope masterfully hidden.

"No." He didn't even hesitate, just a simple syllable as he dropped the bag containing Agaro's head at her feet before moving to leave. She had been expecting that answer, but still a little more pushing couldn't hurt.

"Even so, the little ones have missed you. Will you at least stop and call on them before you leave?" The woman ventured, a colorful eye on him as he fully relaxed into a comfortable posture.

"No." He said. "The girls needs their sleep."

"Come now Adam, there is no need to be that way the children love you and I know one in particular that misses you dreadfully." She added, pressing again in the hopes that he would relent and allow himself to rest before he left again.

"I'm dying Yasaka." Said Adam, his voice grave and tired.

The air was pregnant with silence, other than the crackling of the flame it had seemed as if the all sound had been sucked away by those few words, but it was only that the both of them had fallen silent. Seemingly having nothing else to say after that.

"She's a sweet girl, my presence would only put her in more danger, she has you and your daughter, that is enough." Said Adam before walking past her into the darkness of the forest.

"Maybe-" Yasaka said having found her voice after the eternity of silence, swiftly turning to glance at Adam's back before he disappeared through the trees. "Maybe I could do something, its-." But before she could finish Adam had stopped, glanced back at her, and said.

"No."

The single word hung heavily in the air until it was ripped away by the swift breeze, a breeze carried his scent and again Yasaka was met with the peculiar smell that hung around him. The air around him was sweet and heady, like the warm summer dens she huddled in with her own mother curled around her. It was once a warm and comfortable smell, but now the den it stunk of bird.

 ***][***

After nearly a week, Issei stepped once more out of the cool confines of the train and back into the city of Kuoh, the weather said it was a balmy seventy two but to Issei and his large duffle bags if felt twice that at least. He was tired, his body ached and he could barley manage to stomped down the platform to the sidewalk to start his long walk home. Though he desperately didn't want to, the small amount of pocket money he had forced Issei to walk home. It was a prospect that irked him to no end but seeing little choice he planted himself in an eastward direction and set off down the street.

The pace he kept would've made a snail impatient as he shuffled past pedestrians and the occasional dog, he only narrowly avoiding bumping into people thanks to the heavy bags on either side of him. Due to how hot and tired he was, Issei had little empathy with the Wide and clunky canvas bag and had only marginal give a damn for the curious eyes that slid over him as he passed.

With the last of his medication taken days ago, with little chance to restock, he could definitely feel the extra strain now that narcotics weren't pumping through his veins numbing every nerve and symptom like a river of ice. He could hear his blood as it slogged through his body like thick rivers of red syrup, sticking and clogging inside his arteries like thick, frozen oil pumped feverishly through his shivering body by a temperamental heart that could quit at any second. Everything was shutting down, and the lack of a good breeze didn't help him either.

He was mildly considering stealing a car when a burning red convertible screeched to a stop next to him. Fighting the desire to do just that to this speedy death machine, he instead decided to glare at it with all the fury he could muster, but all it did was make him look mildly disturbed with a crooked eye glaring at the driver.

The driver was a beautiful red head, her light summer clothes stretched to accommodate a figure that few humans could hope for. He could damn near hear her shirt screaming to accommodate the sheer girth of her breast, and her jeans had to be made by a master tailor to mold around such hips. It wouldn't surprise him actually considering how much money she must've wasted on the car. Just barely seventeen with a sports car, must be great being rich. With the hair, the bod, and even the car, every one of Issei's classmates would tell you that only a dead man wouldn't recognize Rias Gremory. And Issei wasn't dead.

Yet.

"Hey Issei, We missed you these last few days." She called from the convertible, leaning out to wave at the tired boy. Issei put on a smile and waved back at the girl before approaching the car. He had to admit it was a nice car, tastefully designed with white leather seats and candy apple red it was a beautiful Audi. But the sheer narcissism of basing your entire color scheme around your own hair wasn't lost on him. He couldn't really blame her, the rich and beautiful always had a fucked up view of the world, what with it revolving around them.

"Hey Rias, I just got back from Kyoto." he said, stopping four feet away from the car. Respectfully maintaining distance, but also eager to be on his way. Due to his old fashioned view of the world, he still believed that respectful was the way to go.

"Kyoto?" Rias repeated, and Issei could damn near see her eyes light up behind her sunglasses. "What were you doing in Kyoto? Something fun I hope." She finished with a grin leaning against her door as Issei dropped his bags.

"Sadly no, I had some business to take care of down there." Issei said coolly, jerking his thumb in the direction of Kyoto.

"Really. Well it must've been awful with what happened." Rias said solemnly, and Issei raised a brow.

"What do you mean?" What was she getting at?

"What with the rash of murders of course, surely you knew? Oh it must've been awful doing business during such a thing." She said dramatically then her eyes slid towards Issei. "Especially after what happened on that mountain."

"Huh, must've missed it." Issei said with a shrug. "But I'm fine. Just a little tired from the trip is all."

"Are you sure? You do seem a little pale."

"Yeah I'm good, just gonna go home and go to bed." Issei bent down and grabbed his bags but before he could leave Rias surprised him.

"How about I give you a lift then, we seem to be going in the same direction so it won't be a problem." Rias patted the seat next to her. "You can just put those in the back."

 ***][***

During the trip Rias kept her minds eye on Issei, measuring his aura while she asked him innocent little questions about his life. Where was he from? Did he have any siblings? Who were his parents? Simple, easy to answer questions blended gently into inane chatter that would tell her more about him that he answered readily enough. He was half Japanese on his dads side but he was raised mostly in Europe. Okay, simple enough. He had a younger sister but he'd rather not talk about her or his parents. Okay, no problem. Simple answers to simple questions, but they seemed a little...rehearsed. A little too simple, a little to readily answered and if any of it was true she wasn't the daughter of Gremory.

The reason was simple, if Issei was as simple as he said then he was just a regular human. The only problem with this was that humans didn't radiate such a supernatural reading to a devil. It was like the air around him was drenched in pheromones, it was simply intriguing. Intriguing enough that she was ninety-nine point ninety-nine percent sure he was just what she was looking for. Especially since she was also sure that his trip to Kyoto and the death of so many Yokai wasn't a coincidence, one or two maybe but the massacre on the mountain was definitely not a coincidence.

From what she knew the Dosuki rebels had been planing for something major in the next few months and it had put a lot of pressure on the regions authority to stamp them out. So it was fortunate that the whole group ended up dead and from what she knew not everyone in the rebellion were pushovers so if Issei was a normal human then how did he manage to wipe out nearly a hundred Dosuki in one night and pick off the rest in just a week?

She was sure it was from a sacred gear, Issei just radiated power. It drenched every fiber of his being almost like a Longinus….c-could he be…? Rias looked over at and studied him. He was solidly built, his shoulders where broad beneath the dark green of his shirt and though it was loose, she speculated that beneath it was a decent musculature because his bare arms were well formed and he was in fact taller than her at least by a couple inches. Perhaps he was a dragon emperor, but which one? Maybe he was neither and was instead something completely different or entirely new, she didn't know.

But then again, even as he radiated so much power, his body seemed so weak. His was covered by the salty sheen of sweat and his muscles trembled beneath the skin. Every breath seemed to be a burden heavier than the last as he fought the urge to sleep even slumped heavily in his seat. Perhaps, if her theory was correct, it had not been as easy as she thought.

Towards the end of the drive he said very little, only giving very basic directions as they drove almost as if he had either lost the energy to speak or was holding it in reserve. Whatever it was Rias had little time to figure it out as Issei's house came into view. It was a homey little cookie cutter two story house with a little garden and a tiny yard wrapped by a short wooden fence came into view, it was just what she expected of a human had the powerful stink of crow not came with it.

Immediately she was on guard and ready to hit the reverse and gun it out of there but the sudden ease that washed over Issei gave her pause. It was as if he had come home, well he was home but that wasn't it, he seemed relieved, almost relaxed even. Rias guessed he had been saving his strength for this moment because he left the with ease and shuffled his way to the front of the house, disregarding the luggage sitting in her back seat.

Almost as if on cue, when Issei entered through the gate the door to the hose flung wide open and out came a dark haired girl and Rias would bet that she was the source of the stink. Short, and cute, like a shrike dressed in what Rias presumed was one of Issei's shirts and his underwear. It was something Rias herself had to admit was a nice touch, but it seemed to be lost on Issei as he struggled up the path threatening to collapse at any moment. From the way the girl blanched Rias figured that she had noticed the horrible state the boy was in, and indeed she swooped in just in time to catch Issei as he fell to the ground.

 ***][***

She had found them on the third day. By that time she had played through all her little fantasies of being a housewife awaiting her adoring husband, imagined all the ways he would ravish her and had mastered the facade of the virtuous virgin and her first time. She had planned for all outcomes and she was determined to wait for Issei. For all intents and purposes she was ready for anything, but by the third day there was little more to do than sit around and watch TV. Well, there was that one thing but Raynare wanted to be as fresh as a daisy and as virginal as she could be for Issei. It was hard, but Dohnaseek still went home as pent up as he had shown up. Tho it was a necessary evil, Issei's home was the one place she refused to taint with the vileness of it. In this house she was the forbidden fruit to all but him, and she liked it that way. This was her temple against her past, here she _was_ Yuma, a sweet little girl in love and she was determined to keep it that way.

The letter had been simple, he had asked her to stay at his place until he came back. Easy thing to do, and she was happy to do it because it gave her the perfect opportunity to snoop around now that Issei was gone. Though she had stayed here multiple times, often consecutively, she was always wary of actually poking around the place other than superficially. She had already found his stash of porn, and admittedly found it adorably dull. Money shots galore, but nothing crazy like bdsm or rape play. Which for her meant plenty of kisses and cuddles and love dovey nights as Yuma before Raynare broke out the leather! Oh ho hoo, how she longed to hear the crack of the whip and tinkle of the chains, actually giving a damn about the safe word was going to be quite the novelty.

Issei could be so _cute_ at times.

But anyway, she never _really_ looked around the place. Never poked and prodded around to see if their was any secret rooms or compartments. So since she was bored anyway, she decided to do just that. But what she found wasn't quite what she wanted to.

She had been through his bedroom, top to bottom, and all she found of any real interest was that same poorly hidden stash of porn magazines still hidden in his sock drawer beneath the tube socks that he never wears because 'they're uncomfortable', he had a large collection considering she bought him new ones for the last few gift giving holidays. Other than that she noted several new books on his special little bookshelf, Issei loved to read, right next to her real presents. The Divine Comedy, Paradise lost, the book of Enoch, and far more modern titles such as the Fallen series by Lauren Kate and The Fallen by Thomas E. Sniegoski to name a few. Was she a bit heavy handed with the theme, perhaps, but it was done in the hopes to make Issei a bit sympathetic to her _condition_. Other than Issei's preference for Sneigoski's work, the books, like the rest of the room, held nothing of note.

The house contained two bathrooms, one upstairs and one downstairs, considering how often she was around and how comfortable she had become, the downstairs bathroom had been completely taken over by Raynare/Yuma and Issei had been confined to the one upstairs though she bounced between one or the other depending on her mood. Anyway, as she finished off the upstairs and was making her way to the basement she decided to stop in and make an appointment with Issei's toothbrush.

Almost like fate she realized it was a concealed medicine cabinet, carefully crafted to fit seamlessly against the wall like it was just hanging there and what she saw horrified her. Row upon row of little orange bottles stood at attention to greet her gaze, all of them empty with little white labels thrust forward like shields to ward of enemy fire. It took her a moment to process it, but soon Raynare was yanking down the bottles and boxes and attempting to read them, but all she could make out was Issei's name and the prescription date. Some of them possessed names so long they had to be split in half, others seemed to be written in some alien dialect by the distinct lack of vowels they possessed and most of them she couldn't even begin to pronounce. By end of her frenzy she had filled the sink with the emptied bottles and she stared blankly at the pile on the floor.

She was scared. She didn't know what to do, she didn't know what they where for but based on the sheer amount of prescriptions she knew, she just knew that it wasn't good. Raynare curled around herself and felt the world curl with her.

She was so so scared. Something was wrong with Issei and she didn't know what to do, she didn't know how to help. Somethings suddenly made sense. With an intense clarity she noticed how Issei always went into that bathroom at specific times, or how some days he just seemed so fragile, as if he was about to break. She didn't notice his sickness, she was so wrapped up in her own little world like the stupid little whore she was and didn't notice that the guy she loved was in pain.

She didn't think he was an addict, but he did seem to be shifting into his own head more and more. There were moment where he would just stare off into space for minutes on end just thinking. Maybe he was an addict or maybe he wasn't but Raynare spent the next few days shifting through life in a daze jumping from one conclusion to the next until she was jolted awake when his presence washed over her again. It was like a cold stream had emptied onto her head, and she ran to the door straight down the stair case nearly plowing through it in her haste.

Her hair was wild, as were her eyes, but when Yuma/Raynare felt his presence she didn't care. She was aware of a problem and was going to beat the answers out of Issei if she had to, but when she ripped open that door prepared to rip him a new one. The paleness of his skin sucked the color from her world, the sight of his trembling, sweaty form ripped out all the anger and fire from her body and the precious smile of relief on his gaunt face brought tears to her eyes as he rasped.

"You're actually here." His voice was but a whisper, a choked sound like the report of sandpaper, but the sheer amount of emotion his those words, the relief, the bitter happiness, the joy. Nearly made her drop him as he fell into her arms right there on the doorstep of his home.

His body was silent, his chest did not heave anymore, his eyes had fluttered shut and dared not open, and for all intents and purposes to the world Issei seemed dead.

 ***][***

 _Gazing into the deep moonlight brought Endymion comfort, a sense of peace filled with a gentle longing for what was or could be. The mountain winds blew like a tempest around him seeking to drive him from his perch upon the frigid peek, but for all their might and the blistering chill they might as well be a summer breeze. For he could not feel cold, nor could the mighty winds pull him to the rocks below, not anymore at least. Not beneath the light of the moon, but still they blew and blew. Sometimes drawing back in frustration before howling once again across the mountains with double the effort, yet still only managing to whip his clothes and hair about in their fury. He didn't mind the effort, the wind was welcome to try and try until Aeolus dropped dead in his cloud, he would not be moved. He liked it here, so far removed from the people below. Up here he couldn't hear the ceaseless prattle or constant bickering. Up here the winds dared not carry the scent of death as the war raged below, he could ignore the ocean, dyed red as if the sun was eternally setting, fed by rivers choked with the dead._

 _Yes, the wind could try all it liked but he was not moving from the mountain._

 _As if cowed by his resolve, the chilling winds died down, leaving a silence to be filled by a sigh as a sudden warmth blistered his side. Looking over he say her perched upon his solemn rock, moonlight radiating off her pale skin only to be dyed orange by the rich flame of her hair. And so arrived another reason he refused the wind all its fury and strength, he would not leave this mountain because it was only here that the two could be together._

 _The girl was slight, her tiny frame relaxed against his shoulder, but she was by no means weak as evidenced by the tightly packed and coiled muscled winding their way down her arm like the mighty Python. An arm currently wrapped around his own as she joyously curled her way against him like a cat. With her head against his shoulder, her hair blanketed his back like a warm and welcome cloak upon this frozen peak, and with a smile he laid his head upon her own because even though he could no longer feel the bite of winter, he would always love her warmth._

" _What took you so long?" He said, the muscles of his jaw compressed against her temple, as he looked down at her face, a cute little nose and angled features. Her wide and curling lashes gently brushed her pale cheeks, rising from the soft smile that played upon her bowed lips. She frowned at his question, but her eyes remained closed and she curled even deeper into him, her gazelle like legs curling beneath her dress as she groaned._

" _Father was with me today, trying to play peacemaker between Phoebus and I." She said as her fingers traced Endymion's arm, up and down they went over and over again. "It took hours for him to leave." From the way she spoke it seemed like the whole thing was quite the ordeal, He had never met her father, but from what he did know he could sympathize. Kingship had left him spoiled, a hard man to please and a dangerous man left sour. It was funny, Endymion thought, how once he would've feared the king and his displeasure, but now he was just apathetic. The threat of king meant little to him now, and so did death._

" _Perhaps it hurts him to see two of his children at each others throats, he is your father after all." He said opening a hand to receive hers, the fingers of both intertwining as she snorted._

" _My father cares little about what any of his children do, he just doesn't want a civil war." She said bitterly and Endymion had to agree with her despite the fact that he wished her father cared more for his children. Though, he supposed, if one had as many as the king did then it would be hard to care much for any of them. At least he showed affection to those not born to mortals._

" _I don't either." He said, looking down at her seriously as he squeezed her hand. "What happened isn't worth tearing your family apart Selene." Selene's eyes shot open, discs of gleaming silver glared at him. And though she had been languidly relaxing at his side, the huntress dexterously whirled from her little ball next to him to face him full on with her legs crosswise and her hands holding his face._

" _What happened was that idiot tried to take you from me Endymion, he tried to kill you so many times and you think that I should let him go unpunished!" Selene hissed, unintentionally digging her nails into his skin as she shook him in frustration._

" _He is still your brother my love, and I will not make you chose between us." Endymion took her hands gently from his head, kissed them, and held them between his own as he looked Selene deep in her eyes, pouring all his love and faith into his gaze hoping that she could see. "So what if I can never see the sun again, as long as I have the moon I'll be fine. I have you, everything will be fine."_

 _The two stared for a long while, Endymion pouring all his affection into the moment and Selene soaking in it as she reigned in her temper until finally she sighed. It was a sigh of resignation, of defeat._

" _Fine, I'll leave him alone. But if he does anything..." She warned, the silver discs becoming hard and sharp, hinting at the hidden fury beneath. In response, Endymion lent forward and planted a soft kiss on her forehead._

" _I know love, I know." He said as he drew back, their hands still entwined..._

 ***** **]** _(*_ **[***

 _ **As I said earlier, I suffer from depression. However that isn't all that has delayed the production of this chapter, I was also torn about the path I wished this tale to take and if I was doing it properly. I know that this is a small section of a much bigger website but I set out wishing to write a good story amidst the mediocre barrage of self inserts and cheesy harems. I love stories that have depth and characters that feel real and I hope you as a fellow reader do as well, but unfortunately I am not the writer who possesses the skills to do so but I am willing to try.**_

 _ **But I need your help as well.**_

 _ **A good audience breeds good writers, and I believe that with an audience as wonderful as mine I could become a wonderful writer. I promised a reader long ago that I would not abandon my stories, my worlds to rot. I didn't lie, but I have failed them. Instead of rot, I gave them to flame because I myself was lacking in the strength to continue them. I myself lack the strength, but perhaps I may borrow yours?**_

 _ **With deep respect and admiration,**_

 _ **Aarnael.**_


	5. Chapter 5

The world was a blur.

A coldness sunk into his body, yet he felt warm. It was like a fever had taken hold of him making him uncomfratable in his own skin. Opening his eyes he saw that he was in a tunnel, but he was not walking through the tunnel he was moving through it feet first. Drifting down its length like a slow moving raft. Soon after he awoke he began to feel restless.

There was a light that appeared overhead every second, passing over and over again into infinity in a never ending stream. He was floating and he didn't like not being able to even tell if he was alive or dead. He hoped he was alive, otherwise he was in for an eternity of watching that damn light driving him slowly insane with the flashing blandness that he was already quite tired of seeing. Their was a faint droning in his ear, it was the only other thing in this bland work besides the light and if it wasn't there he would've been driven insane by the light throughout the eternity he had been floating down the tunnel. It was as if someone was shouting as loud as they could and was just close enough to be heard but not have a single word legible. There was multiple voices, some sounded male others female that shouted and rushed about as the light passed endlessly on its track. It was mocking him, laughing at him as he floated helplessly along as it flew in circles around him. If he was alive, he would soon find his way out of this tunnel and move on from there. But only after he smashed that goddamn light to pieces.

That was if he wasn't dead.

If he was dead then perhaps this was the light seen at death. If so then why didn't it remain still instead of speeding ever onward into oblivion? Some people said that it was a door, but if it was a door then why didn't it remain still? Others said that is was god, waiting to welcome you into heaven. If that was true then why wasn't the fucker standing still, he was taunting him. Laughing at him for the things he had done.

Was this hell? Eternally watching heaven flee from you like Tantalus and his grapes? Watching god taunt you with a paradise lost? If so then it was mighty clever, Issei wondered what the pope would think. He wouldn't be pleased that was sure, but Issei could appreciate the joke.

Suddenly as if drawn by the tolling of a bell, a thick black curtain swooped from oblivion and broke through the haze like the dawn and choking the life from that cursed light. With his new enemy dead, Issei beheld a face within this darkness, and his gaze met the eyes of an angel. Such a rich purple, a glorious shining amethyst. A treasure to be sure, but this wasn't the girls greatest treasure, not her eyes that shone like gemstones, not her lips colored pink as periwinkle, nor her hair which fell like black silk, but a heart that caused her to weep for a dead man.

A man that did not deserve her kindness, but one that received it all the same. A man whose weakened gaze caught something in her eye and in a moment of clarity he realized something.

She knew.

He knew she knew. There wasn't a doubt about it, though he didn't know how, and he didn't know when but somehow she had found out about him. She must have, it was the only explanation as to why his angel was weeping over him. She knew he was dying, she had to. Why else was she crying?

But...then again, maybe she didn't. He couldn't actually remember a thing about the last few days so it could've been anything. He didn't even remember what day it was, but maybe his train crashed, maybe he was shot, or stabbed, or hit by a car or anything or maybe it was all a just dream.

Issei didn't know which he would prefer actually.

A tear struck Issei on the cheek, one followed by another and another. A cascade of diamonds on his pale skin that meant more to him then anything because he hated seeing her cry.

Gathering all the strength in his body, it was quite pitiful how little there was, just barely able to force his hand up long enough to roughly palm her face. It was a such a simple thing, a tiny guesture to sooth her worry. But as her tears soaked into his palm, she smiled and said something but he didn't hear her words. If it really was time, then death had taken his ears and robbed him of her voice. Perhaps those indecipherable voices he could hear were the dead, but was it the indiscriminate dead waiting in limbo, or were his brothers and sisters welcoming him to heaven?

All things considered, it was far more likely they were waiting to drag him to hell.

Made much more sense.

Either way, looking on the bright side, he got to see his angel one last time, her dark hair spilling over him like thick black curtains calling an end to the theatrics that was his life. Or perhaps, it would be more fitting to say, it enfolded him like the black wings of his own sweet angel of death carrying him gently to the afterlife for their long over due meeting.

Yes, he liked that idea better.

Much more fitting.

He closed his eyes.

*][*

Rias was keeping pace at a respectful distance behind the gurney rushing through the hospital crowded with doctors and nurses swarming out from wherever they were hiding. She was the pique of propriety, yes she was concerned, she had a considerable amount of time invested into Issei after all, but she didn't ride in the ambulance mewling like a child.

But the crow did.

Glued to Issei since he had fallen into its arms, squalling and screaming all the way from his doorstep to the hospital the fallen one was maintained a constant presence next to Issei. Even now as he was being rolled into the emergency room for surgery she was clutching him like a doll. The Gremory heiress was honestly astonished at the crows devotion to the role, having guessed it would've flown off as soon as things took a turn for the worst yet here it was the devoted friend, girlfriend, or whatever guise it had used to entrap the boy with.

Whoever she was it seemed that Issei was at aware and appreciative of the crow's presence. From her place in line she could see the moment he reached out to cup her face while the doctor shouted orders to the nurses who either complied or were already fulfilling task. Issei seemed to care for the crow, which Rias supposed was as much of a good thing as it was a nuisance, it meant that he wasn't an unfeeling psychopath but it also meant that it was going to be harder to persuade him from the crow's side.

It was only when they reached the operating room doors, the ones that only patients and staff were allowed behind, that orderlies managed to pry it away the crow from Issei so they could drag his motionless body through the doors and even then it hovered by the entrance frantically asking anyone who passed back through if Issei was okay.

Rias waited for a good fifteen to twenty minutes, taking the time to grab a drink and find a decent seat before the crow decided to give it a rest. And even then it sat down on the far side of the waiting room staring blankly out into space. Dedication, Rias saw that it was checking all the boxes: worried, flustered, shocked, just in case Issei survived, that was professional and Rias could begrudgingly respect her for that at least. It was a rare thing to see indeed. She almost clapped.

Bravo.

A few minutes later, Rias had just managed to inform her peerage of the goings on via text when her attention was pulled from her phone to the crow glaring at her from the seat across the aisle. Admittedly the girl looked a mess, with those red and puffy eyes, shallow cheeks, hastily donned and mismatched clothing, and a rats nest of wild hair she was the perfect example of the terrified and concerned lover. To be honest, of Rias didn't know better even she would've been fooled.

"May I help you?" Rias asked setting aside her half finished drink, she would be polite. She had no desire to be evicted from this hospital, not before she could confirm a few of her suspicions at least. Time was marching ever onward, and she had little of it left to waste trying to sneak back into the hospital to test them out on Issei's corpse. As it was it would be much easier to simply wait until the doctors were done and see whether or not he survived what ever it was that was afflicting him and go from there.

"What did you do to Issei?" Hissed the crow, voice low and dangerous with a near mad gleam in her eye. Her fingers bit into the arm of the chair, squeezing the wood in an effort to hold herself back. Smart bird, it wouldn't do to cause a scene in the waiting room of a human hospital. Even if it didn't escalate into a full out magical brawl, a cat fight would surely cost either of them dearly. Rias couldn't afford to miss this opportunity, and the crow apparently needed to maintain her cover for at least a while longer. Which was a good sign that this basket was indeed the right one for Rias to place a few of her eggs.

"Me? I did nothing at all." Rias folded her hands in her lap and watched the crow across from her.

"Liar!" It yelled before getting a hold of itself, seemed she had a temper. Perhaps she was desperate, all the more reason Issei interested the heiress. "He was fine when he left, but then he comes back with you and all of a sudden he's in the hospital. You did something to him I just know it so talk!" the crows fist smashed against the nearby table, causing more than a few nearby eyes to cast in there direction momentarily.

Rias smirked letting the moment hang in the air and allow the attention dissipate. "You call me a liar and expect me to tell you anything, why should I?"

"You'll tell me because if you don't I rip that fucking grin off your goddamn face bitch!" The crows fingernails turned into talons that gouged into the wooden chair as she lent forward threateningly. Not one to be daunted, Rias lent forward herself until the two could feel the breath of the other on their skin and pierced the fallen with a glare of her own.

"I would like to see you try."

To an outside observer it would seem as if the two where heatedly discussing something rather than preparing for a full out brawl, that is if the outside observer didn't know what these two were and knew nothing about women. Fortunately, the observer happened to be a bit of an expert on both.

"My, my, it's quite hot in here wouldn't you say Yuuto?" Said Akeno as she rounded the corner entering the waiting room and began fanning herself with her hand. She was beautiful as ever and dressed in her Miko uniform, the chaste red and white of a shrine maiden.

"Indeed." Affirmed Kiba entering the room behind her, he himself as gentlemanly as ever with his suit like uniform and knightly decorum. The only ones missing from the peerage was Koneko, who was stuck on a contract, and of course there was her bishop but he never got out anyway. Not that he had any desire to anyway.

Their arrival interrupted the two who were about to fight as Akeno walked to the end of their aisle and looked between the two.

"Aw, Rias has been making friends without me again." She pouted, but a flicker of lightning passed through her fingers unnoticed by the humans in the room but to the crow the message was clear.

 _Back off._

"Not at all." Rias assured her closest friend. "She was just leaving, after all the good doctor has arrived." The crow blinked but followed Rias' outstretched hand behind her to see a tall man with a tanned head enter through the wide double doors at the end of the room and call a name, soon after 'Yuma' rushed after him. Curiously enough, Rias noted, this doctor was not among the throng that swarmed them at the entrance, nor was he the fat middle aged doctor that had taken Issei to the operating room. This man was middle eastern, Iraqi perhaps, or some other Persian descendant, wore glasses, and was broadly shouldered.

How curious.

With the crow gone, they relaxed. Kiba less than the others as he quietly watched the crow and the doctor conversed. Now that it was open, Akeno claimed the seat across from Rias resting her hands in her lap.

"So that is the little bird that's been roosting around Issei?" Akeno said once she was settled.

"So it would seem." Said Kiba, still standing at attention. "President, how is Issei?" He added after turning his eyes to Rias.

"Why Yuuto I thought you didn't like him." Akeno teased but Rias could tell she was wondering the same thing, if only for Rias' sake. The girl really was a true friend if nothing else.

"I told you that I thought there was something wrong with him, that death hangs around him. I assumed that was because he was dangerous, perhaps I was wrong." Kiba said with a somber shake of his head.

"No, you were right. He is dangerous, the crow nearly bit me because she thought I had done something to him. If they are that desperate to keep him then he is dangerous. We only need to find out why he is dangerous and how to control him. If we can manage that then he would be exactly what we need." Rias smirked.

"But President, what if he is too dangerous? What would happen if we can't control him?" Yuuto asked, carefully watching the room.

"If he is too dangerous we will just ignore him and let nature take its course." Akeno proposed with an easy smile. "And we will do the same if he is unreasonable. After all, fate has given us the perfect tools to deal with the threat and all we would have to do is wait. If the little bird is pecking for answers from Rias it means that the fallen have no idea what ails Issei, so there is no reason to believe he would survive long enough to be worth the effort of recruiting him so we have nothing to worry about Yuuto-kun so relax and should anything happen we'll leave him to his fate. However, if it makes you comfortable I can pay him a visit in a minute and remove the problem." Akeno reached over and sipped Rias' diet-coke as simple and as easy as she would after commenting on the weather rather than cold blooded murder. Though Yuuto himself balked at the idea, he had no illusions that if Rias asked her Akeno would fry Issei alive with little remorse. The sadist was probably aching to do just that, death meant little to her. Yuuto himself had seen how excited she got during battle, and how terrible she could be when aroused.

"That won't be necessary Akeno." Rias said as her best friend relaxed back into her chair. "Despite himself, Issei has done nothing to truly provoke us and it is best not to jump to any conclusions."

*][*

Yuuma was a mess, the ride to the hospital was not an easy one and she didn't know who it was that had called the ambulance, she didn't really care. She was tearing herself apart with the thought that today was Issei's last day. That everything she had done to be with him had been for nothing and she felt that somehow it was all her fault. She didn't know how, but she believed that somehow she could've prevented this. If only she had noticed that damn mirror sooner, she could've gotten him the help he needed. She wrestled with the guilt tearing her up inside along with it's sibling worry. A sickening feeling that clenched her gut and drowned her senses until all she could think about was how much she loved Issei. Love was a strange feeling for her, in her nearly fifty years of life she had never loved another soul quite the same way that she loved Issei. Her life revolved around targets, seduction and assassination. She killed and fucked, love was never part of the equation for someone that breathed death and sex. But Issei...he...understood her. He had a gentle wisdom about him that brought her back to when she was a girl, before all the sex and death, back to when malt shakes and dancing was a wonderful idea for a date and leather jackets were exciting. She could sit with him and the whole world melted away to a much simpler time.

The doctor, Amir he said, had tried to conceal how bad it actually was from her.

"It was just a simple heatstroke he'll be fine." Amir assured her, he was much taller than her and his eyes were hidden behind dark glasses. "Just leave him here for a few more days and everything will be okay." But he was lying, everything was not okay. Issei was not fine he was going to die and he knew it. She could see it in the falsity of him smile and the way the lie rolled off his tongue. She knew he was lying, how could she not when she was far too practiced in the art. Her entire life as Yuuma was a lie, she didn't exist. Everything from the way she walked to the bakery she worked in was a goddamn lie built to ensnare the one person she had come to love and it was all slipping away from her.

She didn't argue with him, she didn't call him out on his lie. She didn't have the energy to spare so instead she just fell to her knees and cried. She cried out all the pain and loss she felt and ever could feel. She wailed at the death of the only dream she ever had. She already mourned Issei, even though he lived and breathed only meters away. She mourned at the loss of the only happiness she had ever known and how it was all a lie.

And that was where Kalawarner found her, on her knees in the middle of the lobby long after the doctor had left her behind. Ever the professional, Kalawarner knelt behind her 'daughter' and gathered her in her arms, tucking the tender girl beneath her chin as _Raynare_ cried out against the injustice of it all.

Minutes past and the wails had ebbed away into choked sobs. It was then that Kalawarner whispered into the girls ear a plan. A devious plan, one that would save Issei. And all she needed was the foreign saint from Kyoto.

]*[

Rias watched the elder crow lead 'Yuuma' from the hospital constantly whispering something in her ear that seemed to awaken the girl from her stupor. She strained her ears to the ends of their limits but still couldn't manage to catch what it was she was saying even, despite this Rias was glad to see them go as the crow had really been working on an Oscar for the better part of an hour. All that wailing had really gotten on her nerves and she felt the beginnings of a headache coming on. Her sigh of relief bid the pair goodbye and she turned her attention back to the matter at hand.

"Kiba." She called, gathering the attention of the blond who had been intently guarding the coffee machine since the pity party began. It appeared that even the fake tears of a fallen left unanswered grated against his honor. "I have a task for you."

"Yes, president?" He said, and Rias believed that if they weren't in public he would've saluted based on how he snapped to attention.

"Here." Rias held out a key for him to grab. "This is the key to Issei's house, when he was in my car this apparently slipped from his pocket. I want you copy it and place the original in Issei's belongings after that I want you to go investigate his house."

"Are you sure that's a good idea Rias? If we want to be on his good side I'm afraid that snooping around his home is not a step in the right direction." Akeno cautioned as she leaned forward in her seat.

"Yes, but our little actress has just given us a clue. Remember how the doctor said that it was only heatstroke?" Rias asked her companion, who possessed the same supernatural hearing as she did, and tapped her own ear. "Such a thing hardly requires such a performance and I believe that our crow has found something in that house that warrants such a thing." She said while passing the key to Kiba, who nodded and left to fulfill his task.

Having been assured of her masters reasoning, Akeno relaxed back into her seat. "Well then, lets hope that cute little Issei worth all this trouble."

*][*

Issei's eyes slid slowly open to be greeted by the warm chestnut ceiling of the room he was in. Based on the machines to the left and right of him and the bed he guessed that he was in some hospital but he had didn't know how he had gotten here, he did have an idea why he was here though.

"It happened again, didn't it." He asked the man he was sure was in the room, and he was right. A tall middle eastern man wearing dark sunglasses materialized out of the shadows of the room.

"Yes, yes it did. You are quite the lucky man you know. Two little birds came after you, both are very beautiful." Amir spoke darkly as he stepped closer to the bed, the dusty scent of sand grew stronger in his presence. "Very beautiful." He repeated, this time with sinister inflection as his hands came to rest on the steel rail of Issei's bed.

"You will not touch them Amir." Issei said sharply, a warning in his blue eyes at the looming specter. "I do not care what oath or creed protects you wizard, if you cause either of them harm I _will_ kill you."

Amir chuckled darkly. "Such brave words from the dying young one." Issei just glared at him in silence for sometime.

"No matter." Amir said breaking the tense silence before reaching into his coat to withdraw a small papyrus envelope that was passed to Issei as he proceeded to business. "This month's shipment as agreed. The rest has been placed at your house in the usual place and I have tidied up this little mess as a bonus. With that said, I believe that this marks the end of our contract?" The sudden shift in tone was nothing new to Issei who nodded his affirmation, the two had played this game for quite a long time.

"There is a red convertible in the garage, in the back are two duffle bags. Take what you are owed and leave." Issei commanded Amir, who removed his remaining hand from the railing and stepped away from the bed.

"Very well, I never did like watching an extinction." Amir said shuffling off into a shadow and leaving Issei alone with his thoughts.

The room returned to silence and only the occasional beep from the medical equipment kept the room from the silence of a tomb. Issei didn't like the quiet. In fact he longed for Yuuma's presence despite how he knew she would react to his condition. Strangely, he remembered something. A sliver of a fragmented memory, or perhaps it was a dream.

A dream of moonlight, and a girl named Selene.

*][*

 _ **A little shorter than the last, but I decided to leave somethings for the next chapter. Thank you guys for your support, I have a twisted sense of humor so I find it funny that I find more support about my condition than I do in real life. Anyway, I got myself a job so I've been a bit busy with that. It isn't much, nor is it glorious but it keeps me from rattling around my own head all day which has translated into myself being in a better mood. I don't believe it will effect my writing schedule, as it is there is a huge gap between updates, if anything my betterment of mood will expedite chapter release.**_

 _ **With deep respect and admiration, Aarnael.**_


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